LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



□□□0A2437fl5 



TRAVELS 

IN 

EGYPT AND NUBIA, SYRIA, 

AND 

ASIA MINOR; 

DURING THE YEARS 
1817 & 1818. 



BY 

THE HON. CHARLES LEONARD IRBY, 

AND 

JAMES MANGLES, 

COMMANDERS IN THE ROYAL NAVY. 

tyxinUH for ^t'tbate IKsltri&utfon. 



LONDON: 

T. WHITE AND CO. PRINTERS, 2, JOHNSON'S COURT, 
FLEET STREET. 

MDCCCXXIII. 



1% %3 



205449 
^'13 



I i 



PREFACE. 



On the 14th of August, 1816, the Hon. 
Charles Leonard Irby and James Mangles, 
Commanders in the Royal Navy, left Eng- 
land, with the intention of making a tour on 
the continent. This journey they were led 
to extend far beyond the original design. 
Curiosity at first, and an increasing admira- 
tion of antiquities as they advanced, carried 
them at length through several parts of the 
Levant, which have been little visited by 
modern travellers, and gave them more than 
four years of continued employment. 

Soon after their return to England, in the 
end of the year 1820, they were induced to 
transcribe a selection of the letters which 
they had addressed during their absence 
to their families in England, as the most 



iv PREFACE. 

convenient mode of satisfying the inquiries 
of numerous friends. 

Among those, who by expressing them- 
selves interested with the narrative, sug- 
gested the step which has now been taken, 
of printing some copies for private distribu- 
tion, was a gentleman well acquainted with 
the Turkish provinces described in the fol- 
lowing pages, and who has lately edited the 
Travels of the lamented Burckhardt through 
the same countries. He was not only so 
obliging as to suggest such corrections in 
the language of the original manuscript as 
must ahvays be necessary in such circum- 
stances, previously to printing, but more 
especially in the case of persons quite 
unexperienced in authorship : but he has 
further permitted the maps which he 
published in the two volumes of Burck- 
hardt's Travels, and in the second volume 
of Mr. Walpole's collection, to be used in 



PREFACE. V 

the construction of the geographical deli- 
neation, which accompanies the present 
volume. The only material point in which 
this map differs from those authorities, is in 
the position of a few points, in the southern 
part of Syria, the latitude and longitude 
of which have been communicated since the 
publication of Burckhardt's Syria, by the 
Earl of Belmore and Captain Corry, of the 
Royal Navy, who made the observations. 

To these gentlemen, therefore, the au- 
thors have to express their obligations, 
as well as to H. W. Beechey and John 
Rennie, Esquires, who have kindly fur- 
nished them with five original Sketches in 
Nubia. 



London, July, 1823. 



CONTENTS. 



LETTER J. 

Our party and the first object of interest described. Departure 
in a boat from Philse. The crew characterised, including 
Hassan nicnamed the blue devil. Saracenic buildings in pic- 
turesque situations. Piles of stones on elevated places, to guide 
the caravans from the interior of Africa, &c. Supposed boun- 
dary between Egypt and Nubia. The different natives and their 
languages. 

Arrive at Kalapsche. Inspect the temple. Description there- 
of. Unusual appearance of crocodiles in this part of the Nile. 
Are mistaken, for physicians and induced to prescribe. Found 
the purple acassia. Peculiar manner of taking water fowl by 
swimming. Bathe. Belzoni bitten in the foot by a water lizard. 
Trickery of a native of Senaar. 

Arrive near Koroskoff. Picturesque appearance of the islands 
and rocks in the Nile, in that vicinity. Visited by a messenger 
from Halleel Cashief, requesting presents. Refused. Stop at 
Offidena. The natives handsome and well made, but very dark. 
Arrive at Deny. Apply to Daoud and Halleel Cashief, sons of 
Hassan, he being at Dongola, for leave to open the temple at 
Ebsambal. The Nubian dance. Avarice and treachery of the 
crew. Pass Ibrim. A sad picture of ruins and desolation. 
Comparative limits of former travellers in these parts considered. 
Arrival at Ebsambal. Renewal of application to Daoud and Halleel. 
Interesting appearance of the Dongola caravan, with numbers 
of camels laden with provisions. Remarkable appearance of the 
Mockatem mountains; their pyramidal form and termination. 
Stop opposite the village of Farras. Fine ruins of a large Nubian 
city. Several remarkable temples with hieroglyphics. Greek 
and Roman ornaments. Instance of shyness in crocodiles. Kill 
a torpedo with daggers. Several cameleons taken ; their ver- 
satile appearances and peculiar faculties of catching flies. 

Arrive at Farras. Bargain with the servants of Hassan Cashief 
for asses and camels to visit the Second Cataract. Arrival there- 
at. Fresh instances of artifice displayed by the boatmen. Con- 
sequent determination to proceed on foot. Herds of the ga- 
zelle, a nimble animal resembling the deer. Survey and descrip- 
tion of the Second Cataract. The great extent and velocity of 
" the rapids." Striking and contrasted beauty of the mountain 



viii 



CONTENTS. 



scenery. The natives' great dread of the dark. Difficulties of 
crossing- to Elpha. Disappointment in the supply of the animals 
bargained for at Farras. Mutinous and desperate conduct of the 
boatmen. Serious interference of the natives repulsed by our 
firmness. Return to Ebsambal. Communication from Daoud 
Cashief not arrived. The crew here sued for pardon, pleading 
the custom of such demands upon strangers. Visit to, and de- 
scription of a small temple excavated in the mountain opposite 
Ebsambal; curious Greek paintings, &c. Gratifying arrival of 
a message from Daoud Cashief at Derry to ascertain our identity 
as the favoured English for whom Hassan Cashief had promisecl 
to open the temple. Deceptive conduct of two natives in the 
promised introduction to a temple in the mountains. The crew 
draw their daggers on our servants ; severe reproof of their 
sanguinary conduct, and our lives threatened in revenge Daoud 
and Halleel arrive; their persons described. Partake of refresh- 
ment. Give presents to the two Cashiefs. Halleel offended; 
sulky and inexorable at not having a gun amongst his portion 
similar to Daoud's. A sheep killed by Daoud to regale us, who 
apologises for his brother's absence and indiscretion. Artful 
scheme of Halleel to obtain more presents. Halleel perseveres 
for a gun. Gave him one of ours as a peace-offering. The 
Farras man, who threatened us at Elpha, suddenly annoys us. 
Procure his reprimand from the Cashiefs. Agree on terms for 
clearing the access to the temple, and proceed thither with fifty 
men. The exterior of the temple and its situation, enveloped in 
sand, described. Obstacles to our progress. Selfish song of the 
men. Their indolence. Contract with the cashiefs for the comple- 
tion of the work. One hundred men employed. Boat's crew 
renew their entreaties for forgiveness. Consequent reconciliation. 
They work badly, and exact half the agreed terms. Despair of 
success. Encourage them to proceed. Complain to the Cashiefs, 
who promise more men. Retire disappointed to our boats. 
Renew our labours with fifty men only, and those idle. None of 
the leaders except Mouchmarr, an Arab, an elderly servant of the 
cashiefs present, who designated his masters as robbers, and the 
whole of the tribe of the Barbarins as thieves. Daoud arrives. 
Complain of the laziness of the men. Increased exertion pro- 
mised. Remainder of the terms insisted on. Persist in a refusal. 
Great discontent excited thereby. Meaimess of Halleel in begging 
Mr. Salt's pipe, the janissary's silk waistcoat, and our Greek 
servant's sabre, &e. All refused. Another unsuccessful attempt 
to get presents, by one of the chiefs, sanctioned by the cashiefs. 
Hassan excites us to return to Philse to repair the boat, asserting 
it to be leaky ; steadfastly decline till the accomplishment of 
our task. First day of the "moon, Ramadan, or Turkish fast ; total 
abstinence from food. Halleel's third fruitless application for Mr. 
S.'spipe. His anger and abrupt departure. Farewell visit to Daoud's 
tent, announcing our intention of persevering to gain access to the 



CONTENTS. 



ix 



temple. His dissuasion therefrom. Promise to apprise him 
in due time to share the gold, his anticipated treasure ; his 
tacit consent. Enjoin good conduct to the crew but proceed 
without them to the temple. Strip, six in number, and com- 
mence, determined by our own labour to affect this Herculean 
task. Make rapid progress. Joined and assisted by the 
astonished crew. Personal inconveniences from our toils. 
Encourage our men. Retire to our boat gratified at the 
successful prospect. Unexpected visit in the night from Daoud. 
Exchange presents, and receive assurances of his favour and 
early assistance. 

Vigorously proceed for our object under excessive heat. Crew 
refuse to work. Persevere and make great progress without 
them. Visited, while at work, by Halleel. Desperate affray 
between our janissary and Hassan. To our great joy Halleel 
suddenly disappears. Further artifices of the men. The Darfur 
caravan passes, with four thousand camels laden with gum, 
ivory, and ostrich feathers, on its way to' Cairo. Extraordinary 
exactions upon them by the Mamelukes at Dongola. Descrip- 
tion of the Jelabs conducting the caravan. 

Re-commence with encreased strength, having sixty-four men. 
Present from Daoud of Nubian clothes, &c. His fruitless attempt 
to beg a pipe for his master. Renew our labours. Pleasing 
discovery of a seated statue, in a mutilated state, near the door. 
Unfinished and discouraging appearances of the exterior on 
further progress. Numbers of labourers offer their assistance. 
Retire in consequence to avoid disputes, leaving tickets for thirty 
only with old Mouchmarr. His infamous breach of trust in pur- 
loining ten of them. Violent quarrel among two parties for 
preference. Redouble our efforts, with twenty men, but only 
three instruments. The form thereof delineated. Observe the 
tracks of snakes and other reptiles on the sand. Sudden 
appearance of forty armed men. Mouchmarr and his party 
instantly fly to the mountains Their deception and artful 
attempt to levy contributions. After their departure discover 
that they were Mahommed and Ali Cashiefs with their forces, 
who were engaged in war of extermination with Daoud and 
Halleel. Ridiculous return of Mouchmarr, with his matchlock 
and a few of the Ebsambal people; relates his account of the 
warfare. Find that Mahommed and Ali intercept our supplies. 

Crew insolently withhold our ludri for their own use. Forcibly 
repossess ourselves thereof. About fifty men employed ; annoyed 
by their skulking and idleness. Troublesome application of 
immense numbers of men. Decline their assistance, and they 
carry off the implements and threaten our crew. Aided by the 
assistance of twenty-three persons, proceed to our employment. 
Arrival of a Mameluke from Dongola, reporting the misery pre- 
vailing there. Half of the supplies of bread we had paid for 
withheld. Exorbitant increase of the price of provisions. Set to 



X 



CONTENTS. 



work with only two assistants and the crew. Animating song 
of a workman to his fellow-labourers. A spy from Daoud 
arrives, dissuading the men from their work. Falsely reports 
that the Grand Seignior had superseded the Pashaw in his 
government at Cairo; treat him with derision. Mouchmarr 
states his prohibition from supplying us with bread, or farther 
assistance, and takes his leave. Pursue our operations with only 
our sailors and Mameluke. An Ebsambal man comes to offer 
supplies. Refuse all assistance. 

Encourage our crew for their encreased exertions. Sailors 
next day ask leave to go to Ebsambal to get bread. Hassan 
steals our doura; dispossess him of it. A milkman re-supplies us 
by stealth; a real luxury. The reis appears w r ith a present of 
spirits distilled from dates, from the wife of Daoud. Decline the 
present and pay for it. Thermometer 1 1 2 Fahrenheit in the shade. 
Cheering indications of a door. Former apprehensions from 
unfinished appearances now cleared up. Hassan impudently 
demands pay for the crew. Mameluke departs on a raft for 
Cairo. Hassan sends to the cashief to apprize him of our 
progress. Resume our labours with the crew and two strangers, 
and at sunset come to the corner of the door. Sailors exult, 
with cries of backsheeish, and redouble their efforts in the 
prospect of our promised reward. Sailors beg our cook's waist- 
coat and the Greek's gown. Proceed to work without the crew, 
at moonlight, who load us with abuse; desire us to quit the 
boat, and threaten to leave us. Belzoni frightens them. Their 
abject homage on his appearance; bring up all our arms and 
ammunition. Hassan threatens to murder the janissary. At 
work by candle-light. The crew, all armed and dressed in full 
costume, peremptorily repeat their demands, with savage impre- 
cations and gestures. Try to appease them; meanwhile the 
janissary squeezes himself through a hole and enters the temple; 
discovered by the crew, who now strip and work with 
alacrity. Hassan discloses to our cook their lawless power. 
Attain our primary object, and enter the temple. Obtain some 
statues, sphinxes, &c. of calcareous stone. Ebsambal peasants 
astonished at our success; anticipate the convenience of the 
temple as a place of retreat from the Bedouins. Contract with 
Hassan for bread and meat. Take internal and external dimen- 
sions of the temple. Receive a supply of provisions of one- 
third more than their worth. Effect the shipment of the statues 
and distribute forty piastres, the promised backsheeish. The 
splendid exterior "of the temple described. Four beautiful 
colossal figures, above sixty feet high, sculptured in the best 
style of Egyptian art, and in the highest perfection. The 
interior consists of fourteen capacious apartments. Its stupen- 
dous and magnificent embellishments, its paintings, its sculpture, 
and its numerous valuable specimens of antiquity. Extreme 
heat of the temple, similar to the feeling and effect of the 



CONTENTS. 



XI 



hottest vapour-bath. Visit a smaller temple, like the former, 
cut out of the rock. Description of it. Its colossal and other 
statues, some of upwards of twenty-five feet high ; small female 
figures ornamenting the front. Its interior, consisting of three 
principal apartments, its antique sculpture, its ornamented walls, 
and other objects of exquisite beauty and interest. Start on our 
return. Mahommed and Ali Cashief, with their predatory band, 
hail us and inquire as to the money found in the temple. Call 
on Daoud. Another instance of his guilty duplicity. He gives 
us provisions. Promises to keep the temple open for Mr. Salt. 
Arrive at Derry. Visit, with candles, another temple cut out of 
the rock ; its ruinous state, and dismal appearance described. 
A visit from Halleel, with presents. He is disappointed in 
expected requital. 

Visit the temple at Armada, in the desert, opposite to Derry. 
Description thereof. In the interior are modern Greek paintings 
and ancient Egyptian figures. Arrive at Sabour and inspect its 
temple; the edifice and statues much dilapidated. Desperate 
conduct of Hassan, who attempts to stab Belzoni. Captain 
Irby wounded in the effort to disarm him. The reis and one 
of the crew quit the boat. Hassan returns next day, wanting 
us to re-land the statues and leave them behind. Admonish and 
threaten to bring him to account at Assuan. Mameluke 
rejoins us, having been robbed of his money and raft. Proceed 
to the small unfinished temple at Offidena. Greek or Roman 
figures, in entaglio, found on the walls of the neighbouring 
ruins. Importuned by the natives for backsheeish. Bid for 
a statue previously noticed, but without effect. Visit the temple 
of Dekki, also in an unfinished state. Traces of the artist's 
skill in the interior (in basso-relievo) ; the entrance covered with 
Greek commemorative inscriptions. Visit the temple of Garbe 
Girshe, excavated in the rock. Natives insolent, and of a murder- 
ous character. The building much mutilated, and the sculpture 
bad and heavy. 

Inspect the temple of Garbe Dendour, built in front of a rock; 
small and unfinished. Pass Garbe Merie. See the ruins of 
a temple, with hieroglyphics. Land at Kalapsche. Proceed to 
the temple. The assembled natives, armed with daggers, refuse 
our entrance. Ask for money. Rashness of the janissary 
fatal to our object, nearly so to him ; rescue him, and return to 
our boat under showers of abuse and stones. Fired over their 
heads to shew our forbearance. One villain frightened, by a 
pointed musket from his attempt to plunder the boat in our 
absence. Indifference of the crew. Fidelity of the Greek servant. 
Insolent self-will of guides and interpreters. Repass the gates of 
Nubia. The waters of the Nile very high. The crew ask for 
backsheeish for passing the rapids. Driven by the current past 
the two temples of Teffa. One dedicated to Isis now used as a 
cow-house, the other unfinished. 



xii 



CONTENTS. 



Visit Hindaw and various ruins in that quarter ; extensive 
wall; stone quarries ; Roman and Greek commemorative in- 
scriptions and sculpture. Inspect the temple of Daboude, 
altogether unfinished, two handsome moorelithe cases of red 
granite adorn the sanctuary. Hassan, the Philae murderer, 
deserts the boat on our approach there. Arrive at Philae. First 
Cataract. Description of the edifices ; their style and sculptures. 
French inscriptions on a pylon, indicative of the extent of their 
Egyptian conquests under Buonaparte. Unique symbol of the 
elephant in the portico of the temple. Remarkable imperfection in 
sculpture, in figures of Isis, on this island. Observations upon the 
natives of Nubia • their unprincipled habits ; the country in general. 
Frequent appearance of ancient towns buried in rubbish. Nu- 
bians a distinct race from the Arabs ; their extraordinary super- 
stition. Curious mode of smoking. Strange manner of killing 
personal vermin. Their habits and costume. Their manu- 
facture. Platters made from the date tree. 

Bargain with the suspicious crew. Pay exacted in advance for 
conveyance down the Cataract. Receive a pilot and eight addi- 
tional hands to conduct us down. Hassan disappears, dreading our 
report of him to the Aga. A two hours' passage down the rapids. 
Scenery wild and romantic. The boat strikes against the rocks. Self- 
imagined courage of the crew. Reach Assuan, the ancient Syene. 
Visit the ancient granite quarries. Examine the column there, 
curiously inscribed in Latin. Their ancient method of cutting 
pure masses of stone. The ancient road paved with granite. Eng- 
lish translation of the inscription. Historical remark s on the origin 
of the quarries. Examine the mummy-cases and boxes of sacred 
Egyptian emblems. Curious specimens of carved-work. 
Assuan uninteresting, a dirty and ill-built place. The Aga visits 
us. Complain to him of the crew. He pronounces them noto- 
rious rascals. Their previous desertion. Visit Elephantina, 
celebrated by Denon. Its pleasing and luxurious appearance. 
Ruins of the ancient town and several temples. Engage a boat 
to Thebes. Inspect Koum Ombo, the ancient Ombos. Remains 
of two temples on a promontory of the Nile's eastern shore ; 
description thereof ; peculiar structure of one of them. Barren 
appearance of the neighbouring country. Observe the large 
fertile island of Mansouria, and a smaller one in the middle ofthe 
Nile. Saracenic ruins of brick-work. Traces of ruins of the an- 
cient tOAvn. Extensive view from the promontory. Djibel 
Selsilis, mountains of the Chain ; tradition thereof! Several 
small temples, excavated from the rocks, of calcareous stone. 
Statues in alto-relievo. Tasteful specimen of architecture. 
Numerous extensive quarries. Reach Edfoo, the ancient Ap- 
polinopolis Magna ; its large temple ; prodigiously high pylon. 
Sculptures and antiquities described. Striking contrast with the 
paltry modern town of Edfoo. Recent and interesting discoveries of 
emeralds by a French mineralogist. Stop at El Cab, the ancient 



CONTENTS. 



xiii 



Eleethias, splendid ruins. Curious antiquities of agricultural routine 
and other miscellaneous objects of interest in entaglio. Another 
small tentple. Reach Esneh, the ancient Latapolis. A magnificent 
Egyptian temple, supported by twenty-four columns, with nine 
capitals, obscured by modern houses. Ruins of a small temple on 
the site AphrodUopolis. Another on the opposite side of the river. 
Erment, the ancient Hermanns. Ruins of four temples visible. 
Highly finished symbolic representations in basso-relievo. Re- 
mains of an ancient basin and Nilometer. Arrive at Luxor, part 
of the ancient Thebes. Lodge in one of the temples. Mag- 
nificent obelisks. Similarity of the hieroglyphics to those at 
Ebsambal, and to those of Cleopatra's Needles at Alexandria. 

Visit the tombs of Gourna. Deceptive practices of the natives 
in the concealment of the antiquities. Their party attachments 
to French and English travellers. Description of the tombs, and 
their rich and exquisite sculpture. Account of the mummy pits, 
the subjects therein deposited. Inspect a newly discovered mag- 
nificent tomb; its fine paintings, in fresco, and other curiosities. 
The valley of Gourna, and its antiquities described. Visit a 
temple near Medinet-Aboo. Return to Luxor. Examine the 
statues and temples at Memnonium. Farewell visit to the tomb 
of the kings. Scorpions taken by our guide. Grand view from 
the Lybian mountains. Remarks upon ancient Thebes. 

Departure for Cairo. Stop at Tentyra; swim the canal, and 
revisit the temple of Isis. Astronomical table, and complete lunar 
system on the ceilings delineated. Egyptian mode of calculating 
the year. Stop at Siout. Visit Dr. Marouky and Mr. Brine. 
Stop at Houarti, the village of our crew ; infatuation of the 
women to procure them families. Ruins of a city in the Mocka- 
tem. A range of catacombs and temples in the rocks- Arrive 
at Cairo. Mr. Salt's urbane reception of us. Shave our beards 
and resume our European costume. Proceed with Mr. Salt, Col. 
Stratton, and Mr. Fuller, to the Pyramids. Account of the 
Great Sphinx, &c. Return to Grana Cairo, a mean, ill-built 
city. Description of its wretched inhabitants. Its citadel, govern- 
ment, and customs. Account of the massacre of the Mamelukes. 
The varied appearances of the Nile, and Egypt generally. Visit 
the fertile island of Rhoda. Egyptian agriculture. Boulack, the 
port of Cairo, and its extensive commerce. Contemplate our 
departure. Renew our supplies of provisions, clothes, and arms. 
Our expenditure. Letters of introduction from Mr. Salt. In- 
teresting tomb at Radimore, covered with beautiful paintings. 



LETTER II. 

Departure from Cairo. An Arab, with three camels, conducts 
us to Jaffa. Pass the obelisk of Mataria, the site of Heliopolis, 
and other ruins. Our route through the desert. Stop at a village ; 



xiv 



CONTENTS. 



proceed again at night. Howling of wild beasts. Joined at a 
village by a man with a loaded camel. Skirt the desert, and 
pass richly cultivated plains. Selahieh, the last village on the 
borders of Egypt. Recruit with water and provisions for the 
desert. Joined by eight persons on asses, on their pilgrimage 
to Mecca. Leave the village. Picturesque appearance of the 
desert. Contrast thereof with Nubia. Quails, partridges, &c. 
in abundance. Pass the lake Damietta and ruins of Pelusium. 
Desert more hilly. Many carcasses and detached bones of 
camels and asses, and some wells of indifferent water. Make 
bread. Approach a bay on the coast. Meet a small armed 
caravan. Backsheeish demanded and refused. Pass over a 
plain covered with salt. At breakfast a stranger demands 
backsheeish. A party of Tarabeen Arabs levy a contribution on 
our guides. Our arms preserve us from a like exaction. Arrive 
at El-Arish. Description thereof. Quit it by night, followed 
by an Arab, whom we request to leave us. Pass some wells, a 
Sheik's tomb, a Mahommedan burial place, flocks of sheep and 
goats, peasants and laden camels. Our arms protect us. Pass 
ruins, and arrive at Haneunis on the confines of Syria. Descrip- 
tion of it and its inhabitants. Our route from Cairo. Proceed 
through a barren country to Esdier. Frantic grief of a woman, 
who had quarrelled with her husband. Proceed from Esdier to 
Gaza through richly cultivated plains, and thence through groves 
of olives and open country. Pass several villages. Arrive at 
Asdoud. Description of a Turkish khan. Curiosity of the 
natives of Asdoud. Suppose us to be doctors. Give them some 
balsam of Mecca. They beg some of our hair to burn, refuse it 
and laugh at their superstition. Their gratitude. Reasons for 
not proceeding from Gaza to Jaffa by way of Ashkelon. Quit 
Asdoud. The country open and little cultivated. Pass ruins 
of an aqueduct; well of poisonous water. Also Yabne the ancient 
Jamnia. Cross the river El Rubin. Description of Sheikh 
Rubin's tomb. Proceed orer sand hills and along the sea beach 
towards Jaffa. See Ramla and Loudd on our right. 

Arrive at Jaffa, the ancient Joppa. Ludicrous appearance of 
the British representative. His conduct. Description of Jaffa. 
Generosity of the Aga. Anecdote of him. Leave Jaffa, 
equipped, in an Arab suit of clothing, for the approaching 
winter. Skirt the sea-beach. Pass Arsouf, the ancient Ap- 
pollonias, on the left, and arrive at Cesarea. Description 
thereof. Arrive at Tortura, the ancient Dora, and proceed 
to Athlite. Situation and description of Athlite. Pass the foot 
of Mount Carmel, and arrive at Caiffa, the ancient Hepha. 
Ascend Mount, Carmel. Description of the convent. Elijah's 
cave, &c. Beautiful view of Acre, &c. Descend to Caiffa. 
Cross the brook Kishon and the river Belus. Arrive at Acre. 
Lodge in the convent. Description of Acre. A religious 
festival. Procure a firman from the PashaAv. Quit Acre, and 



CONTENTS. 



XV 



pass on to Zib. Applied to for medical aid. Give them balsam 
of Mecca. Gratitude of the Sheikh's son. Leave Zib, and pass 
over Cape Blanco. Visit some ruins, and ascend the ladder of 
the Tyrians, a picturesque spot. Descend the ladder and arrive 
at Tsour, the ancient Tyre. Awful fulfilment of Scripture pro- 
phecies against Tyre, manifested in its present state. 

Cross the Kasmia. Explore the ruins of several large cities. 
Cross several dry torrents and a river ; its banks enriched with 
flowers. Pass the ruins of a city, and arrive at Saida, the ancient 
Sidon. Its immediate neighbourhood well cultivated. Visit the 
convent Mar Elias Alzo, the usual residence of Lady Hester 
Stanhope, with letters for her. Her ladyship absent, and residing 
at castle Jeba, a more elevated spot in the mountains. Forward 
her letters with a note. Her answer, requesting us to visit her 
convent. Her costume and amiable generosity. Description of 
Saida: Pass the ruins of an ancient town, and many sarcophagi, 
over the promontory of Bayruth. Descend through plantations of 
figs and-mulberries to Bayruth, the ancient Berytus. Cross several 
rivers, and over a rocky promontory. Description of the nahr el 
Kelb. Sepulchre of St. George. Superstition of the fishermen. 
Cross the nahr Ibrahim, and arrive at Gebail, or Gibyle. De- 
scription thereof. Pass Batroun, the castle of Temseida, and arrive 
at Tripoli; Situation and description. Visit the English Consul. 
Visit the Cedars of Labanon and Baalbec, accompanied by Signior 
Guiseppe Mazoliere. Description of the road. 

Arrive at Eden, and at the Cedars. Situation and description of 
the Cedars. Scriptural references to this country. The village 
of Eden identified with the garden of God. Ascend to the crest 
of Lebanon. Extensive view of the hills at its south-east 
foot, Baalbec in the distance, and the sea to the westward. De- 
scription of the Bekaa Mathooalis. Descent from Lebanon, 
excessively steep and rugged. Dismount, and walk the horses 
down to the valley. Proceed over some rugged hills covered with 
shrubs, to Yead. Arrive at Baalbec. Imposing grandeur of 
the ruins. Quit Baalbec for Tripoli. Rainy weather ; stop at a 
village for the night ; meet some peasants returning after an ineffec- 
tual attempt to cross the Lebanon ; the weather very bad, with 
much snow. Shelter in a cave filled with peasants at the foot of 
the mountain. Remove to a larger one, more exposed, and kindle a 
fire for the night. Next morning fine weather. Ascend the moun- 
tain. Fear of the peasants to proceed before us. Approaching 
the summit, the snow being deep, the horses fall. Reach the 
summit with much difficulty. The cold excessive. Descend 
through a great depth of snow to Eden. Our situation thought 
dangerous, and public prayers offered up for our safety. Return 
to Tripoli. Good quality of the Lebanon wine. Leave Tripoli 
for Latachia. Stop at a khan near the nahr el Bered. 

Arrive at Tortosa oppotite Ruad island. Description thereof. 
The island of Ruad, the Arpad of scripture. Cross the nahr el 



xvi 



CONTENTS. 



Mulk. Stop at the village where Monsieur Boutin was killed. 
The inhabitants refuse us shelter. Bivouack in the open air. 
Pass Jebilee and reach Latachia, the ancient Laodicea- Its situa- 
tion and port described. Detained three days by the intrigues 
of the Arab conductor. Arrive at Candele. Difficulty of find- 
ing Lourdee. Its situation close by the highest pinnacle of Mount 
Cassius. Descend the north side of the mountains. Scenery 
woody and wild. 

Reach the banks of the Orontes near the site of the city and 
groves of Daphne. Description thereof. Follow the banks 
of the river 3 beautiful scenery. River meanders between high hills, 
and the road along precipices in the rocks. Enter the plain of 
Suadeah. Difficulty in finding Suadeah. Guided by a peasant 
across the river, up to the horses bellies. Suadeah a straggling 
village. Civility and generosity of the Soubash. Proceed towards 
Antioch. Rainy weather. Arrival at some cottages ; refused ad- 
mittance at three of them ; our hospitable reception at a fourth ; 
present the mistress with a gold double Napoleon. Reasons for 
giving it. 

Arrive at x\ntioch — its description. Arrive at Gesir Adid, and 
cross the Orontes. The lake Aggi Dengis on the left. Arrive 
at Bourkee, the site of a Roman town. The sepulchres described. 
Pass several sites of ancient towns, castles, &c. ; proceed over the 
rocky hills into the plain of Alaks. Stop at Tourneen. Arrive at 
Aleppo. Good fortune in the adoption of our own route, though 
advised by Sheik Ibrahim to take a northerly one. Arrive at 
Mr. Barker's, the consul-general. Find Mr. Bankes there. Wait 
for the Sukne caravan. Amusement during our stay at Aleppo. 
Idea of visiting Bagdad frustrated by a letter received by the Dutch 
consul. Suckne caravan arrives ; dissuaded from going with it, 
and urged to proceed by way o f Hamah and Horns. 



LETTER IIL 

Remarks on Aleppo ; its situation and buildings ; decorations 
of the houses by Persian artists ; carved-work doors, &c. Re- 
semblance of the city to that of Antioch; neatness of the butchers' 
shops ; its society and manners. Depart for Hamah, our good 
host accompanying us for two hours outside the town ; his kind 
solicitude in our behalf ; furnishes us with letters for advice and 
assistance to Selim, the governor's secretary at Hamah ; and to 
Scander, secretary to the Motsellim of Horns, also to Hadgi 
Hassan, an old Turk, at that place, a great dealer with the Arabs. 
Receive also Mr. Barker's letters to the Saraffs of the Pashaw of 
Damascus to secure horses ; also, to Acre, Cyprus, and Smyrna ; 
to Sir Robert and Lady Liston, and other persons of consider- 
ation, at Constantinople ; aids us also with printed documents, a 
map, and money. Stay for the night at the khan Touman, a 
spacious lodging, but crowded with caravans for »Damascus and 
Latachia. Proceed next day over naked plains in company with 



CONTENTS. 



xvii 



them; stop at Sermein. View of mount Cassius covered with 
snow on the right. Join a caravan bound to Ham ah and Da- 
mascus, and proceed therewith. Pass a ruinous Turkish fortress, 
enclosing- a village. Custom of such cireumvallations, on the 
skirts of the desert accounted for. Meet an extensive caravan, 
part of the hadj, or Mecca pilgrimage, returning from Da- 
mascus ; an interesting sight. The green flag (the prophet's 
banner) flying; the animals, a few camels, but chiefly horses and 
mules, all with bells ; among them, the tackterwans, a curious 
vehicle peculiar to the east ; description thereof. 

Pass many divisions of the hadj ; the animals laden with the 
pilgrims' private speculations. History of these customs. Com- 
mercial quickness of the peasants. Observe some Roman ruins 
and sarcophagi. Pass the night in a very good khan. Proceed 
in the morning ; Lebanon, a mass of snow, before us. Mount 
Cassius shut in by the northern extremity of the Ansarian 
mountains. Observe sites of many ancient towns, tanks, sarco- 
phagi, &c. much dilapidated ; an open country abounding with 
gazelles and game. Sleep at khan Shekune, a good khan, but 
crowded from the hadj. Pursue our route over the plains, pa- 
rallel with the range of the Ansarian mountains. Lebanon and 
Antioch in sight. Descend gradually into a delightful vale, and 
arrive at Ham ah, on the west-bank of the Orontes, a winding- 
stream ; its banks fertile and picturesque. Take up our quarters 
in a khan ; comparative description of these buildings, in the 
towns and on the road side ; their terms of accommodation and 
arrangements; also, the mode of travellers subsisting themselves. At 
Hamah, receive a letter from Mr. Barker, by an express messenger 
from Aleppo, with a firman from the Grand Seignior, empowering 
us to go with four servants through Syria and Cyprus, the island 
of the Archipelago, &c. &c. to Constantinople, and insuring us 
all requisite assistance and protection. Melancholy scene of 
traffic in female slaves ; eleven of them brought from Georgia ; 
their charming appearance ; wretched diet ; mode of conveyance, 
and unnatural treatment ; witness a disgusting bargaining for one 
about fifteen, by a rich old Turk ; agonizing grief of one of the 
ill-fated girls, anticipating a separation from her sister and com- 
panions ; their destination, Damascus. Comparative accuracy of 
Bruce and Volney, as to the Georgian and Circassian women. 
Negociate with the Arabs to reach Palmyra ; our Maltese inter- 
preter meets with Pierre, in the employ of Lady H. Stanhope, 
and the bearer of a present to Narsah, the chief of the Annasee 
Arabs ; Pierre professes his acquaintance with the Arab chiefs, his 
attendance upon lady Hester to Palmyra, and his negociation for 
Mr. Bankes, who was so injuriously treated. Embarrassed by the 
absence of Selim and Scander, at Damascus ; resolution to wait 
Selim's return. Discuss with Pierre, the customary charges to 
travellers ; his trickery and suspected treachery. A Christian 
from Horns offers his services ; doubt his sincerity, but decide to 

b 



xviii 



CONTENTS. 



avail ourselves of them, and manoeuvre with Pierre ; weather- 
bound three days. 

Pierre visits us, surprised at our not having set out for Da- 
mascus. Introduces rive Arabs to bargain for conduct to Pal- 
myra ; Sheikh Salee (their chief) nephew to Mahannah, a lad of 
fourteen ; demands three thousand piastres for convoy ; treat them 
all with derision ; they menace us with robbery ; lower their terms 
to eight hundred, and quit us ; send them an offer of six hundred, 
including the hire of camels ; payment on our safe return to Hamah. 
Agree with us, only " for the love of Malaka," or queen, (their 
title of Lady Hester Stanhope, from her liberal payment.) 
Send to the Aga to ratify the treaty in writing; his conditional 
responsibility ; resist their importunities for money in advance, 
and depart from Hamah at dav-break. Pierre follows. Cross 
the Orontes near the villages of Rastan, and the ancient Arethusia ; 
description of them. 

Arrive at Horns. Suspicious letter from the Sheikh Narsah to 
obtain money ; penetrate the trick, resolve to walk, and call on 
Narsah. Trifling of the guide : he arrives, after three days, from 
his chief Mahannah with three camels. Further detention for the 
Motsellim's ratification of our bargain. Access to the governor 
prevented from the recent decapitation of the pashaw. Arbitrary 
proceedings of the Turkish government against suspected indivi- 
duals. Make partial payment to Hadji Hassan under stipulations. 
The Motsellim's surprise at our confidence of safety with the 
Arabs. Proceed with our three camels and conductors. Our 
finesse to prevent probable robbery on the way. 

Arrive at a Bedouin camp, and welcomed by both men and 
women ; stop next day at another Arab camp, and equally well- 
received. Pursue our journey, at an early hour, in an easterly 
direction, but uncertain track. The Arab's economy of his time 
on a journey. His rapid collection of fuel to prepare refreshment. 
Dispatch our breakfast, in ten minutes, and proceed- quench our 
thirst at a neighbouring rock, under the impatience of our guides ; 
their affected vigilance and courage. Approach the camp of 
Mahanna, in a valley. Observe children running down young 
partridges with dogs. A wild boar hunt ; escape of the formidable 
animal with a single wound. Approach the Sheikh's tent. Old 
Mahannah, his two sons Sheikh's Narsah and Hamed, with chiefs 
from various camps assembled. Narsah' s unmoved reception of 
us; accounted for his subsequent address. Enquires the reason of 
English curiosity to see Palmyra; supposes it the search for 
gold. Promise him the half of our chance. 

Arrival of further Arab guests. Etiquette of the chiefs, and 
mode of salutation. Narsah questions us about Buonaparte, and 
the occupation of France by the allied troops. Recognize 
Sheikh Hamody, the person who exacted upon, and confined 
Mr. Bankes. His consciousness of impropriety. Regaled with 
roasted partridges, and bread dipped in butter and honey. 



CONTENTS. 



xix 



Amusing' customs while eating. Evening devotions, and curious 
mode of ablution. Narsah's elaborate address to his circle about 
some land. Its soporific effects on us. Refused permission to 
depart in the morning, and desired by the chief to join an 
immense assemblage of Arabs at a breakfast banquet of rice and 
camel's flesh. Our portion sent to us in a separate tent, con- 
jectures as to the course of such arrangement. Order and 
decorum of the feast ; mode of distributing the remains to the 
people. Narsah summons us to his select circle. His whimsical 
queries as to our customary diet. Mahannah makes signs to us 
for money. Exchange our camels for dromedaries, and take 
our leave, each having his conductor mounted behind him. One 
of Narsah's men accompanies us as a guard on a white drome- 
dary finely decorated. Dreadful jolting of the animals. Sleep 
in an Arab tent, we proceed on our destination, and arrive there 
in the afternoon. 

Imposing effect of the ruins of Palmyra, as seen from the 
valley of the tombs. Picturesque beauty, and cheering contrast 
of the scene with the lonely desert. Examine the antiquities 
minutely. Survey the Arab village of Tadmor, and Temple of 
the Sun. Mutilated state of its chief ornaments. Our disap- 
pointment in the inferiority of the architecture and sculpture of 
Palmyra. Description thereof. The tombs more interesting ; 
their merits, as works of art, compared with those of Egypt. Much 
salt in the vicinity, a lucrative branch of commerce. Return 
from Palmyra and sleep, as usual, in an Arab tent. Pusilla- 
nimity of our Arab convoy. Pass parties of Mahannah's peo- 
ple, armed with spears, &c. Their inquisitiveness. Reach his 
camp at night. Mahannah deprives our poor Arabs of the salt 
they had purchased at Palmyra. Scheme of Narsah to obtain a 
new dress from us. Declares his intention to write a letter to 
the King of England, aaid charges us with one to " his dear 
friend Lady Hester." Their various titles, and uniform venera- 
tion of that Lady. Difficulty of obtaining a draught of water at 
starting. Pursue our course and get benighted. Bivouack in 
the open air. Timidity of the Arabs to make a fire. Lay down 
between the camels. Deprived of sleep from the intensity of 
the cold. Proceed at day break; interesting sight of the re- 
movel of a camp. Get a good breakfast, off lentiles and bread, 
at a small camp. Novel appearance of the ground furrowed up 
by wild boars. 

xArrive at Homs. Pleased with our guides, give them volun- 
tary backsheeish, and charge them with the present of a turban 
to the Sheikh of Tadmor. General opinions of the Arabs. 
Remarks on their singular hospitality, habits, manners, customs, 
and comparative happiness. Rest a short time at Homs ; proceed 
through a mountainous country, rounding the point of Anti- 
Lebanon, and in three days view the plain of Damascus. 
Arrive at the convent of Terra Santa in that city. Luxuriant 



XX CONTENTS. 

fertility of its vicinity and surrounding country. Sensible com- 
forts of a bed, after thirty-eight days* privation thereof. Visit 
the place of the vision of St. Paul. " The house of Ananias, &c. 
Shum, or Shem, the ancient name of Damascus. Scriptural 
references as to this spot, &c. Friendly offices of the Pashaw's 
Physician, procured, by Mr. Barker's letter. Obtain another 
firman for the Pashalic, and a letter to the Governor of 
Jerusalem, for guides to Mount Sinai. Meditated route to 
Constantinople. Find a letter left by Mr. Bankes ; with infor- 
mation about the ancient Abilah, his hopes of our joining him at 
this place. Our mutual disappointment, &e. 



LETTER IV. 

Depart from Damascus, follow the road to Jacob's bridge 
on the Jordan, between the lakes Houle and Tiberias. Stop at 
the khan of the village of Sasa. Pass through a rich plain to 
the westward for Panias. Traces of an ancient paved way, 
supposed the Roman road leading to Csesarea Philippi. Djebail 
Sheikh (Anti-Lebanon) on our right, a deep snow, almost impas- 
eable; a fine plain at the foot of "Djebail Sheikh. A conspicuous 
tomb in the valley. The source of the Jordan considered. A 
singularly beautiful lake, called by Arrowsmith " Birket-el-Ram," 
by Josephus " Phiala." Further authorities as to the source of 
the Jordan. Fine coup d'ceil. A hill to the S. W., the great 
Saracenic castle near Panias. The plain of Jordan, &c. A 
verdant country. Remarkable difference of climate from that of 
Damascus, &c. Cheering indications of spring. Enter Panias. 
Picturesque course of the river. Ruins of ancient walls on its 
banks. Town and environs described. Opinions as to the 
ancient Panias, afterwards Csesarea Philippi ; its extent, and 
other antiquities. Take the diversion of shooting. 

Leave Panias, directed to follow the Jordan to lake Houle. 
Explore various fords. Cross the Jordan. Nearly lose the 
horses in a swamp. Reach the road to Safot at the foot of the 
hills. Intended day's journey shortened by the past difficulties. 
Stop at a village near lake Houle. Ascend an acclivity to Safot ; 
pass some Roman ruins in a village. Grand and luxuriant pros- 
pect of the lakes of Houle and Tiberias, with part of the plain of 
the Jordan. Description of Safot, its castle, and fine approaches. 
Proceed towards Tiberias (the ancient Japhet). Pass the night at 
an old ruined khan, near the village of Madjdala. Dreadfully 
bitten and marked by a red vermin. Disgusting prevalence of 
other personal vermin in this country. The natives deem it '* the 
curse of God on them." Bugs numerous, here and in Egypt. 
Shrubby and romantic country. Pass a picturesque cliff, with 
numerous caves occupied by goatherds. Arrive at Tiberias. De- 
scription of the modern town, on the lake of Gennesaret ; its 



CONTENTS. 



xxi 



mural enclosure and towers. Fine reliques of the ancient town; 
also of the famous hot (mineral) baths of Tiberias. Their ex- 
traordinary degree of heat ; experiments therein. A Turkish 
bath, the resort of the Jews, and a Roman sepulchre, supposed 
by them to be the " tomb of Jacob." Remains of Vespasian's for- 
tifications. Description of the lake Tiberias. " The miraculous 
draught of fishes," and other gospel allusions considered. 
Lodge in the church, under an Arab priest, "identified as the 
house of St. Peter." Exchange the sacred roof, for the open 
court, on account of the fleas. Proverbial saying of the natives 
upon these insects. The dearth of fish accounted for. Passage 
of the Jordan through the lake, discernible. 

Arrival of Mr. Rankes from a tour of the Haouran. Consent to 
accompany him on his projected tour of the Dead Sea. Mr. 
Bankes makes a short visit to Safot. Inspect Om Keis, (the an- 
cient Gadara) in the country of "the Gadarenes." Leave Tibe- 
rias. Pass the site of the ancient Tanichea; ruins of a Roman 
bridge on the Jordan, and the village of Semmack. Cross the 
river Yarmack, or Hieromax. Ancient site of " Amatha." 
Kindly received by the sheikh of the natives inhabiting the 
ancient sepulchres. Lodged in a large tomb. Arrangements 
and description of its occupants. Scriptural recollections and 
identity of this spot, the Necropolis j its sepulchral and other 
antiquities described. 

Visit the hot springs in the plain of the Yarmack. Ruins of a 
Roman bath at the source. Find sick persons thereat. Return 
to Tiberias. Occupied four days in measuring the circuit of the 
ancient city, and in making researches. Mr. Bankes discovers 
and makes a plan of a curious ancient fortification. Elaborate 
task of taking the measurements. Its appellation by the natives. 
Historical remarks thereon. Roman ruins in the village of Erbed 
at the foot of Mount Beatitude. Old convents of singular con- 
struction, between the village of Majdil, the ancient Magdala, 
and the fortress Callah-el-Hammam. Ruins of six Roman baths, 
of luke-warm mineral water, in the vicinity. Their form, pe- 
culiar construction, and surrounding scenery described. Swim 
to the Scorpion rock. Leave Tiberias. Pass an extensive aque- 
duct , discover traces of the walls of Tarichea. Circuitous course 
of the Jordan here. Pass a khan near a bridge of arches upon 
arches. Observe a Roman mile-stone. Pavement of the ancient 
road again perceivable. A sarcophagus on an eminence. A great 
number of Arab camps on our way. Arrive at Bysan, supposed 
the Bethshan of Scripture. Sacred memoranda thereof. Inspect 
the ruins of this great city. Its famous theatre, now filled with 
weeds, a primary object of interest. Remarks of Vitruvius on its 
peculiar structure; make a plan thereof. Discover twenty-four 
skulls, and other human remains in a concealed vomitory. A 
viper entwined in one of them. Examine the reliques of the 
tombs, near the Acropolis, and remaining sarcophagi. A fine 
Roman bridge, and near it, the paved way to the antient Ptole- 



xxii 



CONTENTS. 



mais, now Acre. A dilapidated bridge. Prostrate columns of 
Corinthian architecture. Ruins of many subterranean graneries, 
and other antique remains in the suburbs. Character of the 
people. 

Leave Bysan. Take guides for fording the Jordan. A tomb 
called " Sheikh Daoud," near the ford. Increased swiftness of 
the river here. Bathe, and ascertain its breadth. Visit " Ta- 
bathat Fahkil." Ruins of a modem village, of an ancient city, 
near it. Of a fine temple by the water-side, and of columns of the 
Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders. Excavations in the hills, the 
probable Necropolis, and the spot where Elijah was fed by the 
ravens. Sleep at Hallawye. Arrive at the village Cafringee in 
the valley of Adjeloun. Traces of a Roman town. Accompanied 
by the principal Sheikh to the Callah-el-Rubbat. Visit an exten- 
sive natural cave, supposed the " cave of Mackkedah." Scrip- 
tural reference thereto. Description of the castle and its antiqui- 
ties. Find a Roman mile-stone in an old mosque, with fragments 
of Roman sculpture. Village of Eugen, Roman tombs, and sar- 
cophagi. Extreme beauty of the coimtry. The arbutus and other 
curious trees. Further traces of the Roman road. More Roman 
mile-stones. Village of Souf, its scenery and antiquities. Visit 
the ruins of Djerash. Character of the natives of Souf. Revisit 
Djerash escorted by the sheikh of Souf and ten armed men. Their 
officiousness and self-importance. Return to Souf. The natives, 
affected terror of the dytchmaan (enemy). Arrival of Mr. Bankes* 
interpreter and a soldier, with a young prince of the Benesuckher 
Arabs, and ten men armed and mounted. Ebn Fayes (the prince), 
attended by his mace bearer. Description of the party and their 
martial manoeuvres. Negociations with them for guidance and 
protection on our intended route. Their refusal to go beyond 
Kerek, and reasons thereof. Objects of our research as connected 
with scripture history ; conclude with the Arab guard, pay down 
the money, and proceed. Make further measurements and survey 
at Djerash. Precautions necessary in dealing with the Arabs. 
Pass the night at the village of Katty. The Arabs demand sub- 
sistance money. Repeat our labours among the antiquities of 
Djerash. Conducted to a camp of the Salhaan Arabs. Artifice 
of the conductors, to induce a present of one of our horses. The 
Benesuckhers refuse to go to Djerash. Dispatch our baggage to 
Katty, and proceed for Djerash. Pass a deserted village. Me- 
ditated interception of us by six Salhaans. Reinforce ourselves, 
and advance upon them with ridicule. Resume our operations at 
Djerash. Measuring, drawing, and copying incriptions- Mr. 
Bankes surprised at work, and robbed of" his cap by an armed 
Arab. Great quarrel at Katty between the Benesuckhers and the 
villagers. The field abandoned by the former. Dishonesty, diser- 
tion of the Damascus soldier. Completion of task at Djerash. 
Description of its numerous splended rains and antiquities, histo- 
rical remarks thereon. 

Depart for Szalt. Cross the Zerka. Pass the night at a camp 



CONTENTS. 



xxiii 



of the Salhaans. Menacing scheme of the Benesuckhers to im- 
pede our progress and extort money. The prince's prime minister, 
the chief rogue. The prince and his gang quit us for their own 
camp. Proceed to Szalt. Ruins of a large square cyclopean 
building in the valley Bayga. Pass some inclosed vineyards. 
Prospect of Szalt, and its luxuriant neighbourhood. Description 
of its choice fruits. Arrive, wet through. The people's reception 
and treatment of us. Find many Christians. Conducted to the 
house of one. Attempted extortion of " the minister." Dismiss 
the gang. Their efforts and threats to draw us to their camp. 
Our contempt of them. Insulted by the Mahommedan natives. 
Accompanied by the sheikh's son and five guards on our re- 
searches. Ruins of the village Athan, and sarcophagi in the 
rocks. Two old tombs at Gilhad Gilhood ; adoption of one as a 
christian chapel. " The birth place of the prophet Elijah." Visit 
several ruined villages. Szalt identified as Machserus, where John 
the Baptist was beheaded. Conciliatory invitation from the Bene- 
suckher prince to his camp. Our ulterior plans and determination. 
Quit Szalt amidst a great dispute among the people. Our inter- 
preter found concealed and crying behind a door. Rejoined by 
the prime minister and two Benesuckhers ; their attempt to mis- 
lead us aided by the Turkish natives. Discover the right road to 
Jerusalem, and proceed followed by the Arabs. View of the 
Dead Sea, Jericho and the plain of Jordan. The two men leave 
us; their supposed object. Divert our course towards the Jordan 
and quit "the minister." Reach its banks. Ancient tombs. Swim 
the river on horseback. Spoil all our papers. Misled by a la- 
bourer. Benighted and shelter in a shepherd's cave. Retrace 
our steps to Wady Zeit. Received by the peasants armed ; mis- 
taken. Procure a guide for Nablous. The Arabs reported to be 
in chace of us. Village of Bait Horage. Twenty-eight hours 
without food. Village of Kafifer Baiter. Old Roman tombs and 
tanks, dead bodies therein. Jacob's well. Nablous the ancient 
Sychem. Ruins of a large town, tank, and sheikh's tomb, on mount 
Gerizim. Visit Bethlethem and St. John's. Trick of the fire 
in the Holy Sepulchre at the Greek Easter. Departure with 
the pilgrims, the governor and an immense body of troops to the 
Jordan. The Procession described. Arrival at the camp near 
Jericho. Proceed to the Jordan. Pilgrims all bathing. Their 
various ceremonies described. Attended by two Arabs, bathe in 
the Dead Sea. Peculiar nature and effects of the water. Reach 
Jerusalem. Meet Lord and Lady Belmore. Serious dispute of the 
Friars in the Holy Sepulchre. Sepulchres called the tombs of 
the kings. The governor refuses permission to excavate. The 
Reverendissimo certifies our visit to all the sacred places at 
Jerusalem. 



xxiv 



CONTENTS. 



LETTER V. 

Preliminary arrangements for leaving 1 Jerusalem. Assume 
oriental names. Adapt our costume. Secrete our money in our 
belts, and depart, well armed, from Jerusalem at dusk. Party, 
eleven in number. Sleep at Bethlehem. Proceed for " Solo- 
mon's pools;" ascend the mountain of the Franks. The ruinous 
state of its walls and towers ; military history thereof. View of 
the Dead Sea. Bethlehem, &c. Proceed by Harriatoon to the 
labyrinth; curiosity thereof. English names inscribed. Ruins 
of Tekoa, built by King Rehoboam. Track to Hebron. Pass 
Sipheer and its Roman sepulchral caves. Ruins of the house of 
the House of Abraham." Pass numerous vineyards, with an- 
tique watch-towers. 

Arrive at Hebron. Hospitable reception. Description of the 
town and its inhabitants. Refused admission to the mosque and 
Tomb of Abraham. Description of the exterior. Manufactory 
of glass lamps. Introduction to the Jewish priest by the gover- 
nour. Hospitality of the Jews, who offer letters of introduction. 
Visit the synagogue. Present the governour with a watch. His 
dissatisfaction. Contract for guides. Governour inspects our 
firmans, &c. Introduces our conductors. The law officers and 
authorities. The guides refuse to conduct us. Receive the 
money and watch. Depart by ourselves for Kerek. A messenger 
overtakes us. We re-contract and receive one Jellaheen Arab. 
Pass the ruins of Hagee, and two Roman tombs. Jellaheen 
camp of thirty tents, with harems for the women. An Arab 
tailor arrives ; refusal, from fear, to conduct us to Wady Mousa. 
Agree for guides to Kerek; their avarice on the road; they leave 
us; they rejoin us. Delightful prospect of the Dead Sea." Pass 
an old "Turkish ruin on a rock. Drink from a pool of green, 
stagnant water at El-Zowar, a man bathing therein. Enter the 
great plain at the end of the Dead Sea. Refresh ourselves with 
flour and water, and retire to rest. Disturbed by our guides 
in dread of the dytchmaan. Observe numerous hills and strata 
of salt. Mountainous margin of the Dead Sea, pass into a country 
of curious shrubbery. Botanical remarks thereon. 

Arrive at the nahr el Hussan, or horse river. The Ghorneys 
hospitably entertain us; rufuse any compensation. Mistaken 
for soldiers of Mahommed Aga. Left them in a terrible scramble 
and dispute for money thrown amongst them. Great annoyance 
from horse flies, identified by the natives as those of the plague. 
The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Attempt to cross the 
Hussan on horseback. Our horses lay down in the stream ; dis- 
mount and walk down. Proceed under the mountains. See 
quantities of rich porphory, and various beautiful stone. Collect 
specimens thereof. Reach the south end of the Dead Sea, and 



CONTENTS. 



XXV 



its back-water. Pass the night in a ravine covered with the 
choicest odoriferous shrubs. Ascend a barren mountain ; hailed 
by three , men with a gun. Take a sketch of the fine view of 
the Dead Sea. Accosted roughly by the three men who remained 
with us. Surprised by five other armed men in ambuscade. 
They question us, and we proceed. Pass through a fertile coun- 
try on the river Souf, Saffa. Observe the ancient mill-courses. 
The castle of Kerek appears. Ruins of the seraglio ; a mosque 
of Meleh-e-daher. Approach to the fortress described. Dis- 
mount and enter. Curious construction of the town. Descrip- 
tion of the castle and its Mahommedan architecture. A Christian 
church therein. Account of its supposed founder. Its paintings 
and sculpture. Sheikh Yousouf absent celebrating his recent 
nuptials. Kindly received by Abdel Khader, his son. Costume 
and habits of the women. Our horses and ourselves well fed, gra- 
tuitously. Meet with a great Arab traveller. His account of 
himself ; he contrasts the privileges of this country with that of 
the Turks. Dine at a Turk's house on boiled mutton, without 
bread, a common practice, and its origin. Old Shiekh Yousouf 
arrives without his youthful bride ; his person and manners 
described. Inhabitants remarkably illiterate, the Greek priest 
being the only person who could read. Breach of promise of the 
governor of Jerusalem. The Greek priest mediates and arranges 
for our departure and conduct to Wady Mousa, &c. Yousouf 
pledges himself to accompany us thither. Witness the payment 
of a bridal dowry. The good understanding between the Chris- 
tians and Turks. Departure from Kerek. Sarcophagi. Joined 
by an Arab from Dejebal, who describes the fortifications and 
capital of Dareyah; and buried treasures. Silver preferred to 
gold. Horses fed on camels' milk. Shiekh Yousouf mistaken for 
a Wahabee. His horror threat. Refreshed with sour milk and 
bread at the camp of Sheikh Ismayel, YousouPs youngest son. 
The ruined village of Mahannah ; the Christian church. Survey 
various ruins. Return and sleep at Ismayel's camp. Resume our 
journey, and pass numerous Arab camps, and ruined sites. 
Arrive at that of Hamahta or Mote. Musshut, the tomb of 
Abou Taleb. A Roman mile-stone. Mahommedans alight and 
pray at the tomb of Sheikh J affa. 

Camp of Shiekh Sahtem, commander of Djebal, and the country 
to Shobek. Refusal of his attempted extortion. His consequent 
imprecation. Adjustment of differences ; accompanies us with 
his son to a camp of thirty tents. Visit the ruins of Dettrass. 
A temple and other Roman remains. Solemnities on a death 
in one of the harems. Pass the remains of Acoujah, a Roman 
fortress. Observe quantities of lava issued from the mountains. 
Picturesque fall of the rivulet el Hussein. Ruins of a small 
but rich building, on the promontory ; its fine sculpture of 
arabesque foliage, capitals, columns, &c. Old mill-courses in 
the valleys. Another camp of thirty-three tents. Fresh 
attempts at extortion, &c. Volcanic stone, &c. Our spy-glas? 
purloined ; compelled to redeem it for two rubees. Daoud, a 



xxvi 



CONTENTS. 



relation of the sheikh of Kerek, robbed of his sword. Pass the 
village of Bsaida, and reach the ruins of Ghamndel. Columns 
and capitals of bad Doric architecture. A camp of Bedouin Arabs ; 
take food with them. Discover several volcanic eminences, and 
quantities of lava. Trace an ancient Roman high-way of curious 
pavement. Ruins of square stone buildings. Three mile-stones, 
with effaced inscriptions. Examine some antient Turkish build- 
ings, with Arabic inscriptions. Discover some Arabs, and 
divert our course- Gigantic description of Shobek. Verdant 
gardens of fig trees, at the foot of the hill. Pass the tomb of 
Sheikh Abou Soliman. Approach the town ; assailed by the natives. 
Our safety guaranteed bythe presence of Shiekhs Yousouf and 
Sahlem. Carried to a divan in the open air, and refreshed with 
dried figs ; the building constructed upon the ruins of crusade 
architecture. Arabic inscriptions upon the Mahonimedan castle. 
Extensive view of the before-mentioned desert and volcano s 
Customary salutations and manners of the natives. Alarm of 
Arabs, who had killed the goats of the natives. Threatened 
retaliation. Roman inscription on the church entrance, ascribed 
to the Frank kings of Jerusalem • description of its architecture. 

Quit Shobek and arrive at a large Arab camp. Titular dis- 
tinctions of the sheikhs. Our hospitable reception. Recognise a 
merchant of Hebron, who had been robbed of his goods by the 
Arabs. Their habits in the tents. Abou Raschid arrives and dines 
with us. Orders restitution of the merchant's goods. Abou 
Zatoun, the shiekh of Wady Mousa, violently opposes our pro- 
gress there. Joined by his people and depart with violent threats 
against us. Abou Raschid following them, vows to enforce our 
advance. Joined at Sammack by a well armed and mounted host 
subject to him. Swears "that we shall drink of the water of Wady 
Mousa." Wild and romantic view of Mount Hor. 

Perceive traces of a Roman way similar to the former. Alight at 
a camp of sixty-eight tents, in three circles on a mountain. Mag- 
nificent and picturesque views of groves, fertile fields, and camps. 
Mount Hor, the reputed tomb of Aaron. Distant view of Mount 
Sinai. Reach another camp subject to Abou Raschid. Odd 
dress of the natives. Warlike appearance of the Wady Mousir 
camp. A large deputation arrives ; their conference with Abou 
Raschid. Ineffectual remonstrances with our opponents ; and 
return to the camp for the night. Violent storm ; the cattle 
seek shelter in our tents. War determined upon ; Abou Ras- 
chid sends for reinforcements to Shobek, and desires the presence 
of Sheikhs Yousouf and Sahlem. Their arrival. Recommends 
pacific measures. Renewal of conferences unsuccessful. Con- 
tinued arrival of reinforcements. Warlike appearance of our 
camp. Noble disinterestedness of Abou Raschid. Hindi, a 
powerful Arab chief, declares for our cause, and threatens to unite 
his force. Thieves and spies detected in our camp. Old Yousouf? 
eloquence in our favour, and conciliatory but decisive spirit. 

Interesting object* of antiquity, discernible. Meditate a secret 



CONTENTS. 



xxvii 



visit thereto. Arrival of a numerous cavalcade. The chiefs 
alisrht and pay homage to Raschid. Peace proclaimed, and our 
auxiliary force discharged. Rejoicings of the men. Excuse 
themselves by having supposed us Frenchmen. Intending to 
poison the water. A person from the pashaw of Damascus exa- 
mines our papers. His total ignorance of the Turkish language. 
Visited by Abou Raschid. Remains of towers 3 traces of a great 
metropolis. Depart with the deputation for Wady Mousa ; con- 
trived separation from them on the road. Arrive near the village ; 
large encampment of the inhabitants. Outskirts of the vast Necro- 
polis of Petra. Its various sepulchral and other antiquities ; their 
style characterised ; historical allusions and comparisons relating 
thereto. Curious entablatures and inscriptions of the tombs. Awful 
and sublime appearance of the approach to Petra. Impressive 
effect of the screaming of the birds of prey. The spot where the 
pilgrims were murdered last year by the men of Wady Mousa ; 
the wrapping cloak and watch of one of them offered to us for 
sale. A magnificent temple ; unparalleled beauty of its structure; 
numerous colossal statues. Traditional depository of a vast 
treasure; Hasnah-el-Faraoun opinions as to its antiquity. Pyra- 
mids on the rocks. Pliny and Strabo's description of Petra, 
and its customs. Construction of the houses of Petra. Splendid 
ruins of the theatre, surrounded by sepulchres. Grand and capa- 
cious mausoleum. Tombs of Moses and Aaron on the supposed 
Mount Hor. Curious hues of the mountains. Engage an Arab 
shepherd as our guide. Leave Abou Raschid with our servants 
and horses and proceed. Visit an old Sheikh in a tomb at the 
top of the mountains ; antiquities thereof. Prospects of the 
surrounding country. Observe the facade of another temple in 
the northern approach to the city; its majestic appearance. 
Reconducted by Abou Raschid from the ruins to the palace. Hor- 
ticultural advantages of the city. Scriptural references thereto ; 
depopulated state of the city. Quit the district of the tombs, and 
arrive at a small camp ; stopped by two men rushing therefrom ; 
friendly contention for the honour of affording us gratuitous sup- 
plies ; their hospitality, and subsequent avarice. Arab character 
depicted. Revisit Petra, and return to the camp. Our apprehen- 
sion of robbers. Proceed towards Shobek. Great inconvenience 
from cold. Arrive at Abou Rachid's camp, and joined by Sheikhs 
Yousouf and Sahlem. Raschid's mace-bearer sent with us to 
Shobek ; quit it ; pass a swarm of locusts ; peculiar effect of the 
rock whereon they alighted ; reported frequency of their appear- 
ance. Arrive at Ipseyra, or Bsaida ; people surly and fanatical. 
Pass the village of Tafyle to the tents of Sheikh Sahlem. En- 
tertained on our way by shepherd's boys with their double pipes. 
Descend into the Wady-el-Asha, and bathe in the hot spring, 
designated by the natives "the bath of Solomon;" scriptural 
reference to this spot. Kill a large black scorpion. Regaled at 
the camp of the father of old Yousoufs bride, and proceed to 



xxviii 



CONTENTS. 



Kerek. Pacific exchange of presents between old Yousouf and 
the Annasee Arabs. Desperate illness of the sheikh's brother's 
wife ; administer to her relief. Pass the source of Ain-el-Erangee, 
the frank's fountain. Set out to explore the southern extremity 
of the Dead Sea ; engage a guide ; his extortion. Meet a caravan 
for Hebron and Jerusalem. Pass the spot of a dreadful massacre. 
A large herd of cattle, spoil from the Haouran. 

Arrive at a prospect of the Dead Sea; remarkable appearance 
of its evaporation. Hebron caravan implores concealment of 
their route from the dread of rohbers. Descend towards the 
plain of Ghor ; its agricultural appearances. Various ruins and 
antiquities, probably the site of the ancient Zoar. View of the 
Dara, and description of the village of the infidel Ghorneys, 
and its inhabitants. Peculiarities of the vegetation of the Dead 
Sea; fine salt upon the beach. People collecting the same. Ap- 
pearance and description of the promontory. Collect lumps of 
nitre and sulphur ; observe traces of foreign travellers. Pass 
the strait betwixt the sea and back-water. Observe a small 
caravan from Kerek. Quantities of dead locusts ; their extraor- 
dinary appearance. History and description of the back-water. 
Arrive at Sheikh Yousoufs camp ; find men come to claim the 
cattle robbed from them by Ismayel's people ; arbitrary adjudi- 
cation of Yousouf. Return to Kerek. Reach Abba, formerly 
Rabbath-Moab, afterwards Areopolis. Ruins of Roman temples, 
&c. Pass the night at a Christian camp. Interesting phenome- 
non viewed from the southern extremity. Visit the ruins of 
Bait-Kerm. Remains of a large Roman palace. Lodge m the 
camp near it. Repeated appeals of the men for their cattle. 
Sheikh Harn. A conspicuous object from an eminence. Re- 
peated prospects of the Dead Sea, and its interesting shores ; 
ascertain its extent. Arrive upon the brink of Wady Modjeb, 
the ancient Anion. The ancient road, and various relics of 
antiquity coeval with Trajan. Roman mile-stone of Marcus 
Aurelius. Pass the land of the Moabites into that of the 
Amorites. Reach Diban, the Dibon of Scripture. Interesting 
landmark. A consecrated pile of stone-work. Remains of a 
fine Roman bridge. Mile-stones of Severus. Pass Djebal 
Attarous, probably Nebo. Stop at a camp, near the ruins of 
Mayn, the Baal Mayn of Scripture. Take various bearings of 
the Dead Sea, and its vicinity. Return to the camp near Mayn. 
Prospect of Heshbon, and" other ruins. Engage a guide to 
the sources of hot water. Pass immense numbers of rude 
sepulchral monuments of remote antiquity. Find ourselves in 
an ancient highway. Cross the bed of the torrent Zerka Mayn, 
Animals feeding, called Meddn, or Beddn. Obtain views of the 
Dead Sea, Frank Mount, and Bethlehem, also of the romantic 
valley of Calirrhoe. Stream of hot water from a high rock ; 
its sulphureous appearance. A rapid and copious river in the 
bottom underneath of equal temperature. Traces of pristine 



CONTENTS. 



xxix 



building's on the rock. Find four Roman defaced medals. Our 
Arab guide takes a vapour bath. Nature and properties of the 
springs described. Proceed to the Benesucker's camp, near 
Madeba. Alight at the tent of the chief Ebn-Fayes, our former 
companion to Djerash, (and from whom we escaped to Szalt) ; 
received by him and his brother outside thereof ; their dress of 
handsome silk from Damascus. The elder brother plays a one- 
stringed fiddle, and sings " the death of his father." Supper 
served in an immense wooden dish, borne by three persons ; 
agree for a guide to Oom-i-Rasass. 

An immense tank at Madeba. Reach Oom-i-Rasass. Extensive 
christian ruins. Mr. Bankes renews his researches ; is robbed by 
an armed Bedouin of his abba. Meet with increased numbers of 
camels. Reach Heshbon and find Sheikh Yousouf, the man of 
Szalt, and the young prince of the Benesuckhers. Prepare to in- 
spect the ruins and the celebrated pools. Receive a message of 
extortion from Ebn Fayes for leave to proceed. Expostulate and 
produce our firman. He threatens to shoot us. Persist in our 
refusal of his demand, ' and are allowed to proceed. Heshbon 
wheat brought to parch during our detention. Descriptive ac- 
count thereof. Ruins uninteresting. Find many human sculls 
and bones. Quit Heshbon for Szalt. 

Arrive at Arrag-el-Emir. Grand ruins of a large edifice. 
Sculpture in relievo. The supposed palace of Hircan, the 
brother of Alexander, King of Jerusalem. Many artificial caves 
in the cliff near; their resemblance to stables. Arrive at Szalt. 
Pursue our journey, and pass the night at a camp of Benesuck- 
hers near Amman. Examine the ruins of Rabbath Ammon (now 
Amman) an immense theatre and an odeum close to it. Traces of 
other Roman edifices and Christian churches. Pass the night at 
an Arab camp on the road to Djerash. Yousouf again charged 
with stealing the people's cattle; dismisses them by coolly 
pleading possession. Yousouf takes leave of us. Apology for 
the impositions of the natives. Cross the Zerka, the Jabbok of 
scripture, and return to Djerash. Complete our survey of the 
edifices and proceed by Rajib to the Jordan. Roman remains in 
a village-mosque near Katty. Wild boar shooting; these ani- 
mals very numerous. Return to our bivouack. An adder found 
in Mr. Legh's blanket. Reach the Bysan ford on the Jordan. 
Proceed to Tiberias. Visit Mount Tabor ; travellers names in- 
scribed on the ruins thereof. Beautiful plain of Esdredon. Arrive 
at Acre. Instance of unfeeling barbarity there. Observations 
on the character and manners of the Arabs. Their manufacture 
of clothing, &c, chiefly by the women. Found many concealed 
dead bodies. Practice of tything to support the sheikhs. Em- 
bark in an imperial brig for Constantinople. Reasons for avoid- 
ing our visit to Asia Minor at this season of the year. Mr. Legh 
leaves Acre by land, for Palmyra, &c Mr. Bankes by sea, for 
Egypt. Our regret at parting with such excellent companions. 



4 



XXX 



CONTENTS. 



LETTER VI. 

Equip with Turkish travelling costume, a firman and two 
biruldies, for post horses. Depart from Constantinople for Scutari 
with a Tartar servant and another. Reasons for engaging the 
Tartar. Purchase of horses. Proceed from Scutari and traverse 
the villages of Gaobin and Bendick. Arrive at Ghiviza the Lybissa 
of antiquity. Cross an arm of the Marmora to Ersek. Proceed 
to Kisdervent, inhabited by Greeks. Pass the lake Ascanius, and 
reach Isnick or Tchinisli, the site of ancient Nicaea; advance to 
the town of Lefke. Arrive at Bilejik. Shuhut situated in a 
beautiful valley. Arrive at Eski Shehr. Road through open 
baked plains. Sidi Gazi. Many ancient fragments thereat. 
Pass a road-side fountain with several fragments. Stop at 
Khosru Khan, a miserable place, with many reliques in its neigh- 
bourhood. Breakfast at a fountain of Iloman structure; its 
sculpture, &c. Pass two ancient cemeteries and a Mahommedan 
burial ground, also a Curd camp of black tents. Reach Bul- 
werdun. Proceed over a swampy plain and a cause-way to Isaklu, 
a considerable place. The road through a fertile plain, swamps 
and lakes in the distance. 

Arrive at Ak Shehr a large town. Description of the suite of 
a rich Turk travelling. Proceed through a poor country and 
reach Ilgum, thence through a down country to Khadun Khan. 
Roman ruins therein. Pass two altars with Greek inscriptions j 
reach Ladik. Burial ground described. Road through plains. 
Arrive at Konieh, (formerly Iconium) the capital of a pashalic : 
Description thereof and its inhabitants. Proceed through 
plains of rich soil uncultivated; thence through open plains 
partly cultivated, with villages in sight, to Karabignar (near some 
volcanic mounds). Miserable houses, a handsome khan and a 
mosque in a ruinous state. Leave Karabignar, and pass a mound 
of conical form, surrounded by a natural fosse with salt water; 
ground covered with ashes and Scoriae. Surugees return. Plan 
to avoid exchange of horses, pursued ineffectually. A deserted 
village. Observe some Turk omen's tents of singular construction. 

Arrive at Erkle or Ellegria, beautifully situated. Surugees 
imprisioned for causing the death of a horse ; with difficulty 
obtain one to proceed with us. Leave Erkle and enter a hilly 
country. Pass some fine rivulets and a village. Large patches 
of last years' snow on the highest parts of Mount Taurus. 

Stop at Olukooshlah, a place with a khan and a few huts. 
Delay in procuring horses. Road now between some trees and 
gardens to a river's side. The mountains' production of rich 
grapes, sold to passengers. Scenery increases in beauty. Find 
fragments of breccia, porphyry, &c. Arrive at a picturesque 
bridge of one bold arch; ruins of another and a fountain near it. 
The road becomes rugged and the scenery less picturesque. Sum- 



CONTENTS. 



xxi 



mits of the hills singularly pointed. Arrive at the post-house, 
Takehur, situated in a wild rugged place. Insolent behaviour of 
the Tartar, who returns to Takehur. The post-master, armed, 
menaces, and orders us to stop. Obliged to give up the horses. 
Proceed on foot. Tartar rejoins with horses and baggage. Road 
cut through the rock, at a place called Kolinkboaz, one of the 
Tauri Pylse, or Cilicse Pylse of the ancients. Arrive at a guard- 
house and fountain ; descend through a ragged road across numerous 
ravines. Pass a Turkish castle on an eminence. Also remains of 
a column of handsome porphyry. Pass an old Roman castle. Ap- 
proach a considerable river, and descend into the great plain of 
Tersoos. Country covered with myrtle, &c. Cross the Cydnus, 
and arrive at the khan in Tersoos. Thermometer at 9 l Z in 
the shade. Tersoos described. Its present commerce, &c. Quit 
Tersoos for the coast of Karamania. Proceed by the road to 
Kazalu. Reach an artificial mound ; fine pottery and other re- 
mains on its summit Prospect over the plain ; village of Kazalu. 
The Scala, and vessels at anchor. Plain partially cultivated with 
cotton. Pass the ruins of a town, having part of a building 
standing. On the left another artificial mound with the remains of 
a port. Stop at a small mill. Ground covered with dwarf wood. 
Proceed by various gardens of figs, &c. encompassing a village ; 
the inhabitants sleeping in the open air under the trees. This 
cultivated tract very limited. Road through Dwarf Woodland. 
Another artificial mound with ruins. Cross a considerable stream 
and reach Pompeiopolis, surrounded by dark looking bushes. 
Ruins described. Cross several streams and bridges. Another 
artificial mound with ruins thereon. Country more open and 
boggy. Pass several places where the natives tread out the corn, 
and sleep on stages, elevated upon poles. Skirt the sea-beach. 
Quit the plain country, and cross a rocky hill. The supposed 
boundary between Cilicia Campestris and Aspera. Cross the 
mouth of a large river in a sandy bay, a bridge and village near. 
Large heaps of stones collected. Ruins of foundations, &c. A 
Roman aqueduct on a double tier of arches across the Latmus. 
Troughs cut in the rocks, and holes perforated to fasten the 
cattle to. Description of several ruins. Proceed over a stony 
road. Continuation of the grand aqueduct. Pass a burial place 
called Shedelah, and descend into a sandy bay to some wells 
of water, called by the natives Ayash. Some ruins described. An 
ancient paved way lined with tombs, sarcophagi, altars, &c. Ar- 
rive at a sandy bay and an isthmus. The great aqueduct again 
appears, though much in ruins, and near it the remains of a 
palace, &c. The ruins of Eleusa, or Sebaste. Ascend the next 
eminence. Baggage horse falls over a precipice. Its fall 
broken by the baggage. A tomb described. Rout, in the ancient 
paved way, to a castle and ruins. Descend into a valley leading 
to the sea-shore, where stands an old castle. Remains of a pier pro- 
jecting into the sea, and some ruins at its extremity. Ruins of a 



xxxii 



CONTENTS. 



town on a hill eastward, and on the sides of the valley to the west, 
remains of excavated houses. A sarcophagus on the upper part 
of these hills. The village of Ichuran reported to be near. Cross 
the foot of the western hill to a sandy bay. Another castle on a 
sandy island. Several springs of fresh water issue from the rocks 
close to the sea, the first seen since crossing the Latmus. The 
ruins of the ancient Corycus. Enquire for the Saffron cave of 
Strabo. Pursue our route over a rough road, the coast forming 
many bays and inlets. A small vessel at anchor in the first bay. 
Promontories between these bays excessively rugged, and road 
bad. Baggage horse falls frequently. Followed by seven natives 
of Ichuran, a very wild looking people, armed with knives. Our 
party with fire arms. The inhabitants of this country noted 
pirates. Passed five caves in one of the valleys. Continuation of 
very bad road into an extensive plain, terminating to the south in 
a long, low promontory. Pass the ruins ofPershendy and some 
others. Plain partially cultivated with cotton. Men employed 
spinning wool, the occupation of women in other parts of the 
Levant. Arrive at a miserable village, by the edge of a morass. 
A large building formed of ancient ruins. Continuation of bad 
road. A small mound with the remains of ancient buildings; 
and some sarcophagi near. Arrive at the Ghiuk Sooyor river, 
the ancient Calycadnus, and enter Selefkeh, one of the ancient 
Selcucias. Selefkeh, and some other ruins near it, described. 
Conductor taken ill. Continue our course westward. No horses 
to be procured at Selefkeh. Arrive at some ruins and a small 
bridge. Quit the plain country and pass along a rocky coast, by 
an extensive Necropolis of sarcophagi cut in the rock. To the 
ruins of another village, and further on to a bay, having a large 
Turkish fortress on its western promontory. A polacca brig at 
anchor. Converse with the crew. Pass into another bay sheltered 
by an island. Two vessels taking in wood. Ruins at the head of 
the bay and on the island. Bays sheltered by the curved projec- 
tion of the point Lissan el Kahpeh. 

Pass over a very high bluff, and descend among romantic cliffs 
and ravines into a valley. Stop at a small source of fresh water; 
the first seen since starting. Find an open stage placed for the 
accommodation of travellers, there being no inhabitants. The 
valley inclosed by two high cliffs ; ascend with great difficulty, 
and examine the ruins of a Turkish castle. A commanding view 
of the sea, and the island of Cyprus. Observe some natives, 
and being unarmed, retire, and join the rest of the party. Pass a 
stormy night in the open air ; experience violent feverish heat 
and thirst- Drink constantly at the fountain. Morning, the 
weather more serene. Valley opens on a deep bay of the sea- 
coast. Pass over a mountainous and barren country; come 
to some abandoned huts and gardens. Servant's illness in- 
creases to a high fever. Advance further, and with difficulty 
find the track, there being no road. Arrive at Chelindreh, the 



CONTENTS. 



xxxiii 



ancient Celenderis. Two vessels lying in the port. Chelindreh 
described. Bargain for horses to proceed. The disorder, which 
had attacked all the party, increases. Thoughts of proceeding 
abandoned. Resolve to hasten to Cyprus for medical aid. Our 
guide, to obtain relief, blooded with the point of a nail. Party 
much exhausted for want of nourishment. Termination of the 
tour attributable to want of wholesome food, unwholsomeness 
of the waters, lying on the margin of the swamps, and want 
of sufficient covering at nights. Arrival at Cyprus. Dangerous 
illness of one of the party; his convalescence. Embark for 
Marseilles in a French brig; arrival, after a passage of seventy 
days; perform a quarantine of twenty, and proceed to Mont- 
pellier to recruit our health. 



Some account of Cuchuk Ali, in a letter from John Barker, 
Esq. to the Earl of Elgin. 



ERRATA. 



Contents, Page xii. line 4, for moorelithe read monolithe. 

13, 27, Sheck read Sheikh, passim. 

117, 19, " the fleece" read u the fluse."' 

127, 19, Appolinoplis read Appolinopolis. 

155, 10, PT0AEMAI02 readTTTO AES1AI02. 

222, 6, Latachia read Latachia or Latakia, joa«/;;>. 

223, 2, Selucia read Seleucia. 
228, 13, an read and. 

23, Turkmen read Turkonien. 

356, 26, Goaiiiavs read Ghorneys. 

357, 27, Honssan read Hus<an." 

359, 1, el Derrah read el Data., passim. 

11, Saphy read Szafye or Ahsa, passim. 

373, 18, Wadv el Hussein reaaHVady el Ahsa, passim. 

378, 19, Showbac read Showbec 

432, 17, Zettam read Zetoan. 

458, 14, Rubba read Rabba. 



1 



TRAVELS 

IN 

EGYPT AND NUBIA. 



LETTER I. 

TOUR IN EGYPT AND NUBIA. 

Description of the party and object of pursuit. — Depar- 
ture from P Mice. — Arrive at Second Cataract. — Elpha. 
—■Ebsambal. — Open the great temple. — Deny Kalap- 
sche. — -Return to Phila. — Pass through the Cataract.— 
Visit Assuan. — Thebes. — Tentyra. — Arrive at Cairo. 

Cairo, September 27, 1817. 
We arrived here on the first instant, having made 
a much longer trip than we had intended ; the 
reason of this I shall explain in its proper place, 
and in the mean time proceed to a continuation 
of our narrative, from where my last letter, dated 
in June, concluded. I think I mentioned before, 
that we had joined, at Philge, Messrs. Beechey and 
Belzoni; the latter is Mr. Salt's agent. Their 
principal object in going up to the second cata- 
ract, was to endeavour to open the great temple 
at Ebsambal, by desire of Mr. Salt, which Mr. 

B 



*S TRAVELS IN [LETTER L 

Belzoni had attempted the preceding year. The 
whole face of the temple, as high as the heads of 
the statues which are in front of it, was buried in 
the sand which had been blown from the desert. 
This sand, in the course of time, had accumulated 
to such a degree, as not only to fill up the whole 
of the valley through which it had passed, but also 
to form a mountain, sloping from the front of the 
temple, for two or three hundred yards towards 
the banks of the Nile. From all external appear- 
ance it is probable this temple, which is hewn out 
of the live rock, had been shut for many centuries, 
perhaps for more than two thousand years; and 
in that case, if it had not suffered too much in 
the general pillage and destruction which all 
the sacred edifices underwent at the conquest 
of Egypt, by Cambyses and other subsequent 
princes, it was hoped that something interesting 
to the antiquarian might be discovered. 

We considered it a fortunate circumstance for 
us to have an opportunity of joining in so 
interesting an undertaking, and as it is adviseable 
that travellers should be both numerous and well 
armed in Nubia, the junction of us four, together 
with Mr. Beechey's Greek servant, an Arab cook, 
and a janissary, composed a tolerably strong 
party. We could only add one solitary musket 
to a pretty good stock of arms of every descrip- 



LETTER I.] EGYYT AND NUBIA. 3 

tion which Mr. Beechey had with him. We 
hired a boat, which belonged to a village situated 
on a point amidst a cluster of date-trees which 
bounds the view of the river from Philse to the 
southward : the crew consisted of five men, in- 
cluding the reis or captain, and three boys : 
three of the men and the reis were brothers, and 
the fifth was their brother-in-law, having married 
their sister ; this latter was dressed in a blue 
shirt, from which circumstance we nic-named him 
the " blue devil ;" his real name was Hassan ; he 
will be by and by a conspicuous character in this 
narrative. The boys, were sons of some one 
or other of the crew, and the boat they said 
belonged to the father of them all, an old man 
who wore a green turban, as a descendant of the 
prophet. 

In the afternoon of the sixteenth, we started 
with a fine fair wind, having first settled a quarrel 
between two of our crew, in which one of the 
party was cut through the calf of the leg, to the 
bone : our agreement with the reis was for one 
hundred and sixty piastres per month, four pounds 
sterling ; and at the end of the voyage, if they be- 
haved well, a backsheeish or present was pro- 
mised, a stipulation which always forms part of 
similar bargains in this country. It was expressly 
understood that the crew should find themselves. 



4 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

As we advanced upwards, the sand hills rilling up 
the cavities between the black granite rocks pre- 
sented a most remarkable contrast, the wind 
having drifted it very much ; the surface in many 
places was quite fine and smooth, reminding one, 
with the exception of the difference of colour, of 
some of the scenery in Switzerland, were the 
snow before it cracks, and after it has been drifted 
fine, presents just such an appearance. The 
mountains here close much on the river, and we 
looked in vain for that rich plain which, in Egypt, 
is every where to be seen on the banks of the 
Nile. On the heights, as we proceeded, we saw 
several Saracenic buildings placed in most pictu- 
resque situations ; they tend very much to set off 
this wild species of scenery ; you also observe, 
throughout Nubia, numerous piles of stones 
placed on the most elevated and conspicuous 
parts of the mountains, to indicate the vicinity of 
the Nile to the caravans from the interior of 
Africa, as Darfur, Dongola, and other places. 

Half a day's sail from Philae, conducted us to 
the finishing of the granite rocks, which now gave 
place to those of calcareous stone, though on the 
river side, in most instances, their exterior still 
retains a black colour and a polish. The vein of 
red granite, which begins below Assuan, and ex- 
tends beyond Philae, is supposed to continue in 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 5 

an easterly direction till it joins the shores of the 
Red Sea, keeping, nearly throughout, the same 
breadth ; the observations which we made on our 
trips into the desert from Assuan, tended to con- 
firm this opinion. 

On the afternoon of the seventeenth we came 
to a place where the mountains close upon the 
river in a very abrupt manner, leaving no level 
land on the banks ; the hills at the same time pre- 
sented some very grand though rude scenery. 
This, by some travellers, is termed the boundary 
between Egypt and Nubia, though I should be 
inclined to agree with the French, that the first 
cataract is a more natural limit to the two coun- 
tries ; as, immediately above Assuan, you perceive 
not only a country quite different from that 
below, but even natives of a character and colour 
in no way resembling the Egyptians, differently 
clothed, and speaking another language. 

This evening we arrived at Kalapsche, and as 
we had to wait some time while our janissary 
was buying provisions, we went up to inspect the 
temple, though we had agreed to visit the anti- 
quities in general as we returned from the second 
cataract. The ruins of this edifice are large and 
magnificent, but it has never been finished : it 
consists of a large peristyle hall, (most of the 
columns of which have fallen, and many are un- 



6 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

finished,) two chambers, and a sanctuary. The 
exterior walls are smooth, the sculpture not 
having even been commenced, and in the interior 
it is not finished, there being in no instance either 
stucco or painting. There has been first a quay 
on the river's side, and then a flight of steps as. an 
approach to the temple. We reserved the mea- 
surements, &c. till our return : the outer hall had 
several Greek inscriptions in it, some of them in 
tolerable perfection. 

In the evening, before we stopped, we passed 
two crocodiles, they were on a shoal in the middle 
of the Nile, and retired before we got near them : 
they were the first we had seen since we left 
Phila3 ; indeed they are never met with near that 
island. On the nineteenth a foul wind obliged us 
to stop, when an old man came to beg medicine, 
thinking we were hackim, or physicians, a strange 
notion which all barbarous nations have respecting 
Europeans : we gave him some advice, though we 
declined any pretensions to the title he had given 
us. Bruce, in making himself acquainted with the 
rudiments of physic, shewed how well he judged 
of the proper mode of travelling in these coun- 
tries ; and his narrative proves how much he 
benefitted by this knowledge. Our denial of all 
knowledge of physic met with little belief among 
the natives, and to induce us to give them assist- 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. T 

ance, they offered two fowls for any aid we would 
render to their patients. On the twentieth we 
saw a camel swimming across the river; one man 
swam before with a halter in his mouth, leading 
the animal, another followed behind. 

June 2 1 . We this day observed, immediately 
opposite Duckie, two lads crossing the river 
which is here tolerably wide, and pushing and 
towing a laden reed raft. 

On the twenty-second observed the purple 
acassia; it bears some resemblance to a shrub, 
and is evidently a dwarf species of the mimosa; 
never attaining a height beyond a foot or fifteen 
inches ; excepting in colour, the flower is like the 
yellow acassia. On the twenty-third our crew 
killed a snake that was basking on the river side; 
it was gray, with two black marks below its head. 
It was curious to see the precautions they used 
before they would surprise this reptile, which 
they represented as poisonous, though I did not 
believe it was so. We had this morning a re- 
gular wild-goose chase after an old one and four 
young ones; the crew jumped overboard and 
caught them all, though with some difficulty. I 
mention this merely to give you some idea how 
expert these people are in the water; they may 
almost be said to be amphibious. 

June 24. *This day we were opposite Koroskoff 



8 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

in the morning; we purchased a sheep for nine 
piastres, but were obliged to send the money 
before they would even shew the animal; we 
remonstrated much against this curious method 
of making a bargain, but nothing would induce 
them to change their plan. We this day saw 
the calibash growing wild on creepers up the 
acassia-trees on the river side; our crew got 
three very good ones ; the boys also found a sort 
of wild currant growing close to the water side; 
we tasted some, and thought them not unlike 
the blue-berry, though not shaped like them, 
being round; in size and colour they are alike. 

Our custom was always to bathe morning and 
evening regularly, frequently oftener ; this evening, 
while at this recreation, Mr. Belzoni was bitten in 
the foot, which caused him to cry out somewhat 
loudly for assistance ; next morning he was bitten 
again, in the same place; this last time fetched 
blood, taking a piece out of the toe. The animal 
must have been small; he plainly felt something 
twisting round his leg; we all agree in thinking 
it must have been a water lizard. I should have 
told you, the other day a man hailed us and 
asked " if we would buy a spy-glass;" he said 
he was a native of Senaar: we thought it must 
be the property of some European who had been 
robbed, and therefore said we would see it first; 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 9 

in consequence he came into the boat, to be 
carried to the village where it was (about four 
hours' sail above) ; however, on arriving there he 
walked off, and we never heard again either of 
him or his glass ; the fact is, he wanted a passage, 
and you, I am sure, will give him credit for so 
cunning a method of getting one. It is by these 
little traits that one can judge of the character 
of people of this description. 

June 25. We this day arrived nearKoroskoff,at 
the point where the river reaches the southernmost 
point, before the beginning of the second cataract ; 
for the ascent of the river here turns due north, 
and continues in that direction between ten and 
fifteen miles; after which it becomes S. W. and 
then west to the second cataract. The Nile 
here assumes a picturesque appearance, having 
several islands and rocks in the centre of it. In 
the evening our janissary shot a wild-goose; its 
plumage was beautiful, and its taste exceedingly 
good, though we had not the means of cooking 
it in a very savoury manner. 

June 26. Observed the Nile to have fallen 
about one and a half foot ; it is now twenty-two 
days since it began to rise; it is already above 
the cataract of Syene (Assuan). 

June 27. We this day saw two crocodiles; 
our men requested us to fire some muskets to 



10 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

frighten them away, but were not afraid of 
towing the bark in the water close to the bank 
were we observed them; I think, from what we 
have noticed of these animals, that if ever they 
do attack people, it is but very seldom. This 
morning a man on horseback came down to the 
river side, and said he was sent by Halleel Cashief 
with salam alicams (compliments): he, however, 
seemed more intent to get something for himself ; 
and in a moment enumerated several articles 
which he requested us to give him; such as 
coffee, snuff, gunpowder, salt, &c; we told him 
we had none to spare, as we reserve those articles 
for Hassan Cashief, the chief person in this 
country, and whose favour it is necessary to gain 
by presents, in order to get permission to open 
the temple at Ebsambal, one of the principal 
objects of the expedition; that chief has pledged 
his word to Mr. Belzoni, that none but the 
English should be allowed to work there, on 
condition that he, Hassan, was to have half the 
gold that was found in it: for these people have 
no idea that our researches for antiquities in this 
country, have any other view than to get trea- 
sure; and they laugh when we tell them we are 
looking for stone statues, and slabs of that mate- 
rial, with inscriptions on them. They cannot 
conceive what motive can induce us to come such 



r 



LETTER I.J EGYPT AND NUBIA. 1 1 

a distance, and expend three or four-thousand 
piastres to clear away an accumulated mass of 
sand, for no other purpose than to find some 
granite figures. 

We now observed the water to be exceedingly 
muddy, and of a reddish yellow colour. We 
stopped a short time at Offidena with a view of 
purchasing a statue ; but after much prevarica- 
tion, we could not even get a look at it. The 
natives of this place are both handsome and 
well made, a circumstance very rare in Nubia; 
their complexion however was unusually dark. 
In the evening arrived at Derry, sent word to 
Daoud and Halleel Cashief, the two sons of 
Hassan, (who most unfortunately for us w r as at 
Dongola, and by whose absence we lost the 
friendship and assistance of the only honest man 
in the country,) that we were going up to open 
the temple at Ebsambal, and would thank 
them to send orders for us to be permitted to 
work ; adding, at the same time, that we would 
wait on them and pay our respects on our return. 
While waiting there we had a specimen of 
Nubian dancing ; about twelve lads assisted ; the 
music consisted only in clapping the hands, in the 
doing of which, they kept very good time. I 
cannot say much for the elegance or gracefulness of 
the dance, as it was nothing more than lifting up 



1% TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

the right foot and stamping it down again, then 
rising up on the left foot by the spring of the instep, 
and afterwards letting the feet rest on the flat 
sole. This was done for a backsheeish which we 
gave them. We also gave the reis and crew a 
backsheeish of ten piastres, but they said it was 
not enough, so we gave them fifteen. At night, 
when we stopped, the reis came to us to say that 
we were two parties, and therefore should by 
rights pay double the money we had agreed on 
for the boat. Complaint was also made that we 
had not given sufficient to the crew to eat ; I 
mentioned before the agreement about their feed- 
ing themselves : it was also alleged that Jacques 
(an agent of Mr. Drovetti's, a Frenchman living 
in this country, and who hired the boat not long 
before us,) always gave them one third of his 
coffee, meat, bread, and every thing that he 
had; in short, they imagined that up here we 
were at their mercy. Now, as we had regularly 
fed them, and given them coffee without stint every 
day, we thought it time to come to an under- 
standing, and therefore told them that the boat 
was at our disposal, and that it was no matter 
of theirs if we had two or five different parties ; 
and with regard to food, that as they were not 
contented with what we had given them spon- 
taneously, they should have nothing. We have 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 13 

no doubt but our janissary and the Greek servant 
put them up to this request, as the soldier took 
a poor cowardly part, and urged that we were 
in a savage country, and had better temporize 
till we were on our return, thus showing of 
how little use these fellows are to protect tra- 
vellers. 

June 28. Passed Ibrim, situated on a rude but 
picturesqne hill of a conical shape, and of barren 
calcareous stone. There is not now the least 
vestige of an inhabitant to be seen, and it pre- 
sents a sad picture of ruin and desolation, Mr. 
Legh, in his new publication, (a few extracts 
from which we have seen in the Quarterly Review 
for February last) says " this town was destroyed 
by the mamelukes ;" it was the extent or limit of 
his voyage in Nubia : he travelled in 1813. Mr. 
Bankes, it appears, was the first Englishman 
who ever succeeded in gaining the second cata- 
ract : he travelled in 1 8 1 5. I fancy he took much 
about the same tour of Syria that we mean to 
take, though we have not as yet seen his journey 
traced out. In 1816, Mr. Drovetti, the ci- 
devant French consul in Egypt, succeeded in 
reaching the second cataract, together with his 
two agents, Rifaud and Cailliaud ; these travellers, 
together with Sheck Ibrahim (a real friend of 
ours) and Mr. Belzoni, are all that have reached 



14 TRAVELS IN [LETTER L 

thus far : Mr. Belzoni had his wife with him in 
man's clothes. Poor Norden, who travelled eighty 
years ago, could only reach Derry ; his Nubian 
trip is rather interesting, though not very instruc- 
tive. Denon went no higher than Philae ; and 
Pocock, who passed Norden on the Nile, only 
reached that isle. On the tops of the hills near 
Ibrim, we remarked many conical hillocks, as 
marks to lead the Dongola caravans ( 1 ). This 
evening we saw a crocodile sleeping on the 
sand a considerable way up ; we were within 
twenty yards of him, but as none of our muskets 
were loaded with ball we did not fire ; we how- 
ever made a noise to awaken him, when he 
rushed into the water with his mouth open, 
looking very savage ; he was about fifteen feet 
long. 

June 29. Arrived at Ebsambal, and unfor- 
tunately found Hassan Cashief absent ; sent again 
to Derry, to Daoud and Halleel, for leave to begin 
and open the temple when we returned from the 
second cataract : the banks of the river between 
Ibrim and Ebsambal are beautifully strewed 
with the yellow and purple acassia, forming 
thick hedges, which have a very pleasing effect ; 
a species of the tamarisk is also common here. 
The acassia is famous for producing the gum 
arabic, which is brought in great quantities from 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 15 

the interior of Africa in the vicinity of Darfur; 
the seeds of the acassia also serve for a lucrative 
branch of trade, being sent in the first instance to 
Cairo, and then shipped for Europe, where they 
serve as a good article for tanning. The water is 
now become exceedingly thick, it is not, however, 
unpleasant to the taste. 

June 30. While we were at Ebsambal, the 
Dongola caravan passed ; it was preceded by 
about fifty camels, carrying the provisions, &c. 
The conductors were armed with a sword, dagger, 
and spear each ; they wore sandals to preserve 
the soles of their feet from the burning sand, 
which we now feel most sensibly, being obliged 
to stop every now and then to pour it out of our 
shoes. These sandals are much like those worn 
by the ancient Egyptians, and which are often 
found on the feet of the mummies at this day. 

The range of the Mockatem mountains finish 
nearly opposite Ebsambal in a remarkable 
manner, terminating in a considerable number of 
pyramidal hills rising up from the sand, and 
having the appearance of a gigantic camp; some 
of the hills are oblong, and in the form of 
marquees ; others are so perfectly pyramidal, 
that one finds it difficult to divest one's-self of the 
idea that they are the work of men's hands. 
Bruce attributes the origin of the pyramidal 



J 6 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

mode of building to an imitation of the slope or 
inclination of the sides of mountains. (Vol.ii.p.33.) 

J uly ] . Stopped opposite the village of Farras ; 
we here examined the site of a large Nubian city, 
and amongst the modern stone buildings of the 
Arabs found several remnants of temples, with 
hieroglyphics ; in one was a beautiful cornice and 
a frieze, with the winged globe highly finished. 
The natives shewed us some Greek and Roman 
ornaments, such as the spread eagle, ornamental 
cross, &c. ; near the village are some fragments of 
a temple, consisting of several broken pieces of 
red granite pillars, also some small ones of beau- 
tiful white marble. From the appearance of 
these ruins, the fineness of the situation, and the 
rich plain of cultivated land near it, I think this 
must once have been a populous and flourishing 
city, in the time of the Greeks and Romans, as 
well as the Egyptians. Close to the rubbish 
there is a natural rock by itself, and a door lead- 
ing to a very small recess or chamber, in which 
are two Egyptian figures, in intaglio, on the wall ; 
one is a man, the other a woman with the lotus 
flower in her hand ; a double row of hieroglyphics 
near the inner figure, and there is a niche at the 
further end of the chamber about four feet 
square. 

We bathed this morning opposite a village, and 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 17 

on a sand-bank in front of us, at not more than a 
musket-shot distant, we observed two crocodiles 
(timsah in Arabic) ; as soon as we went into the 
water they both walked into the river, to all ap- 
pearance from fear, for they are certainly both 
shy and timid, and, I suspect, will only attack a 
single person when they can surprise him in the 
water, and off his guard; we saw no more of 
these two ; at noon we saw another crocodile 
swimming with his nose just out of the water. 
We also observed, to day, a pretty large water- 
lizard, and a small black water-snake. To day 
the sand-hills have assumed a fine green appear- 
ance, being covered here and there with tamarisk ; 
this verdure, contrasted with the dark yellow 
sand, forms a pleasing diversity of appearance* 
In the evening, while towing the boat, our sailors 
found a torpedo on the very brink of the river, 
apparently asleep ; it was curious to observe their 
caution and timidity in approaching it; they, how- 
ever, succeeded in sticking one of their daggers 
in his head, and by that means hauled it on shore; 
our Egyptian crew had done the same near Beni 
Hassan. We got the fish on board, and, though 
nearly dead, it sensibly affected my arm in laying 
hold of it; I felt a double shock up the arm 
near the elbow. It was about two feet long ; had 
very small eyes ; the belly and top of the back 

c 



18 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

white ; one dorsal fin, and the sides were coloured 
dark brown with black spots ; it had no scales. 
Our sailors in Egypt ate the one they caught, 
but the present crew would not touch this, even 
when dead, and consequently harmless, much 
more eat it. They all said we avoided the shock 
by uttering a charm, or using some magic influ- 
ence. This day one of the boys of our crew 
brought on board a camelion ; he caught it in an 
acassia (called in Nubia the soont) tree, which 
they affect more than the date, or any other tree 
in this country. On coming on board, it hissed 
and shewed symptoms of anger, evincing at 
the same time a great desire to make its escape. 
It was then of a dirty green colour, with dark 
spots, and whenever it was approached it turned 
to a dusky brown, inflating itself at the same time. 
I conclude that one hue is the effect of fear, and 
the other of indifference. We had subsequently 
eight of these animals on board; some of them 
became so tame, that when the flies annoyed us 
much, we had only to take one of the camelions in 
our hand, and place it near the flies, and it would 
catch them with its long tongue in great numbers. 
One of our crew brought us some fine pieces of 
gum arabic which he picked off the acassia; some 
of the specimens were remarkably clear and large. 
July ] . In the evening arrived at Farras, 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 19 

when two natives, with the men servants of 
Hassan Cashief, came and made a bargain with us 
to procure asses and camels to go above the 
second cataract. One of these remained in the 
boat, and the other promised to meet us at Elpha 
on the morrow with the animals. Elpha is op- 
posite the second cataract, and is the last habitable 
place to which the Nubian boats ascend. 

July 2. Arrived at the second cataract, and 
perceiving we should have a long distance to walk 
to the elevated point from whence the finest 
view of the cataract is obtained, we requested 
the reis to take us higher up the river, in order 
to shorten the walk, but all the boatmen persisted 
that it was impracticable for the boat to go 
higher on account of the rocks; they offered, 
however, to take us if we would first go over to 
Elpha, on the opposite side of the river, and land 
all our effects, and then return again. We re- 
quired the reason of this odd proposition, when 
they said, that they were apprehensive of thieves 
on that side of the river. We did not however 
like the scheme, and therefore refused it, urging 
them to advance higher up, as we plainly perceived 
we might go a good league farther without the 
least risk; but nothing would induce them to 
consent. In the mean time another boat arrived, 
and we perceived that our reis and his sailors 



20 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

were in league with those of the other boat, to 
force us to take their bark; but we determined to 
walk rather than submit to this imposition, as 
they wanted a high price in the newly arrived 
boat, and accordingly we set out. The sand was 
deep and the sun very hot, so that we soon found 
that walking in the desert is no joke; our trip 
occupied us about two hours, from one to three, 
the hottest part of the day. On the road we 
found innumerable tracts of the gazelle and other 
animals; we saw seven of the former in one lot, 
and three in another. They were not so timid as 
one would expect, and stopped to gaze on us 
with their ears cocked up like deer in a park; 
their colour is brown, not much unlike the sand, 
and when they are in a valley it is difficult to 
perceive them. We were not more than two 
musket-shots distant from the first three we saw ; 
when running, they appeared wonderfully light 
and nimble, and while on the rocky parts bounded 
with great agility. 

The spot from whence we surveyed the cata- 
ract was a projecting cliff, about two hundred 
feet high, with a perpendicular precipice down to 
the river side; from this place, which is on the 
western bank, you look down on the cataract to 
great advantage. It presents a fine coup d'oeil; 
the river here runs E. N. E. and W. S. W. In 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 21 

America this would be called " a rapid/' there 
being no fall visible, only an immense cluster of 
innumerable black rocks, with the Nile running in 
all directions with great rapidity, and much noise 
between them; they fill up the whole breadth of 
the river, which may be about two miles wide, 
and they extend as far as the eye can reach, 
altogether making a space of about ten miles of 
rapids; three below the rock on which we stood, 
and seven above. The scenery is here remark- 
ably wild, there being no human habitation 
visible, excepting a fisherman's hut on one of the 
islands,, and the village of Elpha on the opposite 
side of the river, in the distance. Some of the 
rocks have beds of yellow sand on them, and most 
of the islands have small trees and shrubs 
growing in the crevices; the verdure of these, 
contrasted with the sand and black rocks, pro- 
duces a fine effect. In front, and on both sides, 
the view is bounded by the desert; to the south- 
ward are the tops of two high mountains rearing 
their heads above the hills, and apparently seventy 
or eighty miles distant. The western bank of 
the river is richly covered with trees and shrubs, 
and it is curious to observe, immediately beyond 
the green margin, the barren desert, without the 
least vestige of verdure. Having bathed and 
dined on bread and cheese, we set out on our 



22 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

return to the bark, our guides urging us to be 
quick, lest we should be benighted; they said the 
serpents and other venemous reptiles always 
came down by night to drink, and they were 
apprehensive that we should tread on them. 
They also said we should meet the robbers at 
night. These people have a remarkable aversion 
to being caught in the dark. I remember, when 
at Dendera, our servant, an Arab, hurried off 
and left us behind, when he thought we should be 
late in returning to our boat; and whenever our 
lights have gone out in a tomb or temple, the 
Arabs have always clapped their hands, and made 
a noise to keep their spirits up till the light re- 
turned. In the evening, after dark, we reached 
the boat. 

July 3. In the morning at daylight we crossed 
over to Elpha, the way to which place leads 
through several intricate passages, amongst rocks 
and shoals, where the current runs with great 
rapidity. In one part we were obliged to pass 
close under a high bluff point with some ruined 
houses on it. It was not necessary to pass 
through this intricate passage; our boatmen took 
it when we were all asleep in our beds, and we 
only perceived our situation on awaking at 
Elpha. We here found that neither asses nor 
camels had arrived to take us up to the temple 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 23 

above the second cataract which we had heard of; 
the reason assigned for this was, that the price 
agreed on the day before, at three piastres for each 
animal, was not enough, though the person who 
made the agreement was there. We now endea- 
voured to procure beasts of the inhabitants, but 
they haggled so much about the price, that we 
could make nothing of them. While we were 
arranging this matter, our crew, reis and all, took 
their clothes, arms, and effects out of the boat, and 
walked off to a sackey % about twenty yards' dis- 
tance, on the banks of the river ; here they squatted 
down amongst a considerable number of natives. 
We had not taken notice of this proceeding, as 
their clothes, &c. were all kept abaft, behind the 
end of our cabin, and, therefore, when we could 
not agree for the asses, &c. we said we did not 
want them, and would go back to Ebsambal. 
With this intention we called the reis, and desired 
him to get the bark ready to return, but received 
an immediate answer that "■ neither he nor his 
crew would come." We sent word to know the 
reason of their refusal, when they replied, that we 
must give them more money for the boat before 
they would come on board ; they also sent word 

* Sackey is the Persian wheel with which they raise water from 
the river; it is described by Burckhardt, Norden, and other 
tra\ ellers. 



24 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

that we had never fed them, nor had we given 
them backsheeish, and when we reminded them 
of Derry, they said that was nothing. 

We now threatened to take the boat off our- 
selves, and for that purpose rigged the oars 
across, but the wind being strong against us, we 
did not get under weigh. When the oars were 
ready we sent word to the crew to come, but they 
replied that they would not ; that we might buy 
the boat if we chose, but that they would not 
navigate her ; at the same time they said that 
they were people who did not value their lives 
a pigeon, and for half a one that they would take 
ours. While all this was passing, we observed 
the natives assembling in every direction, armed 
with spears, swords, and daggers ; every minute 
they were arriving from all quarters on asses, and 
always going to the rendezvous under the sackey, 
where our vile crew had it in their power to tell 
any falsehoods against us without our being able 
to confute them, as neither our Arab cook, the 
Greek servant, or janissary understood the Bar- 
barin language. Several of the Barbarins now 
came to see what arms we had, and took account 
of every thing in the shape of a weapon ; for 
seeing affairs in this posture, we had prepared for 
the worst, and laid out all our arms in readiness, 
of which fortunately we had a good stock. A 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 25 

message now came from the crew that they 
wanted money ; we sent them word that they 
must first come and do their duty ; that as soon 
as the boat was off from this place, they would 
have a backsheeish, but not one para till they had 
done their duty. They now sent word that we 
had absolutely starved them, which was no doubt 
what they told the natives ; they also informed us 
by a message, that at this very place they had 
beaten Jacques (Rifaud) during his last voyage, 
(though you may remember what they said of 
his generosity at Derry,) and that it was done 
in the presence of the sheick of the place, and 
all the natives ; and that they had made him pay 
fifty piastres for the stick they had broken over 
his head. At this moment several of the natives 
came down demanding backsheeish, backsheeish, 
in a threatening manner ; we asked the reason 
why we should give them money ? they replied, for 
seeing the cataract, and coming into their coun- 
try. A loaded musket was now pointed at them, 
and they were asked if they wanted money by 
force or good means ; on which they retired, 
saying la, la, la, no, no, no, evidently not liking 
the sight of fire-arms, which they have a parti- 
cular aversion to. We now told them, that if 
we had seen the cataract without paying, so they 
had seen us without giving us any thing as a 



c l6 TRAVELS IN [LETTER L 

reeompence, though we were as novel a sight to 
them as their cataract was to us, and therefore 
we were quits. 

Some of the most impudent now came down, 
and on being refused money said we should wait 
where we were till the high Nile : that we should 
neither go upward or downward, laughing and 
hooting at the same time ; our villainous crew all 
this while sitting under the sackey, and enjoying 
the storm they had raised against us. To all 
their threats we constantly replied that we were 
well armed, were determined not to be robbed, 
and that should they come to extremities, we would 
certainly make a good use of our fire-arms, which 
we took care they should all see were pretty 
numerous and loaded. The asses were now 
brought, and the people endeavoured to persuade 
us to go off to the temple, evidently in the hope 
of plundering the boat when we were gone; we 
easily saw through this trick, and positively 
refused to go. We also told the natives that 
though we were few in number, we had the 
firman of the pashaw, and that any violence 
offered to us, would be sure to be well punished ; 
those who had brought the asses now asked some 
remuneration for their trouble, as we had refused 
to hire them ; this we thought reasonable, and to 
draw off their attention, for there were about 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 27 

forty of them, we gave eight piastres to be 
divided amongst the claimants. The division of 
this money turned affairs very much in our favour, 
for they began to quarrel amongst one another 
immediately. 

The crew now thinking that we had given the 
natives backsheeish, and that they should get 
nothing more without danger to themselves sent 
a messenger while the natives were disputing 
about the division of the eight piastres to say 
they would come and prepare the boat provided 
they had the backsheeish : we repeated our terms, 
that they should have a present when they did 
their duty. Seeing now they could not stir up 
the natives to any acts of violence at the risk of 
their personal safety, they returned to the boat 
all armed, having their daggers fastened to the 
left arm above the elbow joint, the manner in 
which all the Nubians wear that weapon. As 
soon as the boat was ready they asked for the 
money, when we gave them fifteen piastres : 
before we were off 3 however, one of the Farras 
people came to be rewarded for endeavouring to 
hire the asses at that place, or rather for disap- 
pointing us ; we gave him five piastres, which he 
indignantly refused, but seeing he could get no 
one to assist him in forcing us to give more, (for 
all these people are impudent and bullying for 



28 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

their own interest, but never for another's) came 
back and said he would take the five we had 
already offered him ; this we now refused, when 
he went off in a violent rage, uttering threats 
that we should hear more of him below. After 
this, we got off from this infamous place, and 
soon found what a trap we had been caught in ; 
for it was with the utmost difficulty, that even 
the crew could get the boat through the nume- 
rous narrow passages, all of them being obliged 
to get out into the river, and guide her through 
amongst the rocks ; and we were also forced to 
pass directly under the bluff point I mentioned 
before, where the natives, had we taken the boat 
off ourselves, would have annoyed us greatly, 
while they would have been sheltered behind the 
ruined village. Indeed our crew wished us above 
all things to take the boat off, that they might 
represent us to the inhabitants as robbers, stealing 
their bark : however we saw through all this. 

July 4. Arrived at Ebsambal and found that 
no message whatever had been received from the 
cashiefs at Derry ; this was a sad disappointment 
to us. Our crew now dreading the presence of 
the chiefs, came to beg a reconciliation, saying 
that they had forgotten and forgiven every thing, 
and hoped that we had ; they said they would 
behave well in future — " that they were poor, 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 29 

and always made a practice to get all they could 
from passengers and strangers :" — they remarked, 
" that dogs, when repulsed, always made a prac- 
tice of returning to get something as long as 
there was any thing to be had :" — this appears to 
be a favourite proverb amongst them. 

July 6. Visited the small temple opposite Eb- 
sambal on the south side of the river. This tem- 
ple is excavated in the solid mountain; the entrance 
is situated on the side of a rocky precipice, which 
below it slopes into the river; there are some 
ruins of steps cut in the rock as an approach to 
it. The principal chamber is ten paces long, 
by nine wide: it is supported by four pillars, two 
on each side of the passage. In the centre, at 
the further end of the apartment, there is on 
each side a door-way communicating with side 
chambers, nine paces by four each: the sanc- 
tuary at the end of the principal chamber is 
six paces by four; this is the most common mode 
of construction in the Egyptian temples. At 
present the interior of this temple appears daubed 
all over with dirty plaster and Greek paintings, 
mostly representing men on horseback. Behind 
these, however, we easily discovered the Egyptian 
figures, hieroglyphics, &c. &c. in bas-relief on 
stucco ; as most of the figures represent men with 
hawk's heads, we think this temple was dedicated 



30 TRAVELS IN [LETTER L 

to Osiris ; and afterwards,, perhaps, converted into 
a church of St. George. The sanctuary has been 
once ornamented, but the side apartments are 
plain: there is a small subterraneous chamber 
below the sanctuary, apparently intended for a 
sepulchre. 

July 7. A message on a dromedary arrived 
from Daoud Cashief at Berry to see " if we were 
the same English for whom Hassan Cashief had 
promised to open the temple;" at the same time 
he sent word that if we were the same persons, 
he would immediately come himself, but if not 
he knew what to do. The latter part of the 
message alluded to the French, who had used 
every effort to get Hassan Cashief to allow them 
to open the temple after Mr. Belzoni's first 
attempt in 1816; Mr. Belzoni, however, had 
fortunately, in Mr. Salt's name, sent Hassan and 
his two sons a turban each, and some other pre- 
sents, after his first effort : this he did to bind them 
to their promise, and they certainly deserve credit 
for keeping it. It ought to be mentioned that 
Mr. Drovetti, in the early part of 1816, on his 
way to the second cataract, before Mr. Belzoni's 
arrival in Nubia, had contracted with Hassan 
Cashief to open the temple, for three hundred 
piastres, and left the money; Hassan promising 
that Mr. D. should find it ready opened on his 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 3 1 

return from the falls : however, when he came 
back his money was returned, the chief candidly 
telling him he could not undertake the task for so 
small a sum. As Mr. D. would not go to more 
expense, the field now became open to any one 
else who chose to attempt the enterprize. 

July 6. In the morning we started early with 
two of the natives in search of a temple which 
they said was in the neighbouring mountains, and 
stated to be about a pipe distant ; for it is com- 
mon among them to estimate a short journey by 
the number of pipes they can smoke during its 
performance : on our way we met two white 
gazelles ; they were very timid, the belly and 
tail were perfectly white. After walking about 
an hour, we came to the mountains, where, 
having waited about two hours more, our con- 
ductors came and said, they could not find the 
temple, though the evening before they had 
described the size and every particular of it. In 
the evening we had a violent quarrel with the 
crew in consequence of their drawing their 
daggers on our servants ; we told them that the 
first who should draw his dagger would be sure 
to be severely punished ; this threat, however, 
had so little effect, that one of them who had 
murdered his own brother at Philae, (for which 
reason he did not dare to go near the island ( 2 )^ 



32 TRAVELS IN [LETTER Li 

but was taken into our boat at a village above 
it,) said he would be the first, and swore by Alia 
and the Prophet that he would have one of our 
lives ; adding, that his method was not to attack 
people awake, but to stab them sleeping. We* 
however, laughed at their threats, and told them 
they were more apt at talking of these matters 
than in executing them. 

July 10. This day the two cashiefs arrived, 
Daoud and Halleel; they did not come to us, nor 
send any message to apprize us of their arrival, 
but pitched their tents, consisting of a few sticks 
of date, the roof covered with grass, on the sand- 
bank at the river-side; here they waited till we 
should make our appearance. We accordingly 
set out to visit these potentates ; the first tent we 
entered happened to be Halleel's. He was a tall 
handsome man, about thirty-six years of age, six 
feet high, very corpulent, and had a fine expres- 
sive countenance, with dark eyes: his dress was a 
large loose white linen shirt, with long sleeves 
hanging down nearly two feet, an old turban and 
slippers. He received us with tolerable affability, 
and immediately conducted us to his elder brother 
Daoud's tent, who also gave us a very good 
reception. Daoud Cashief appeared to be rather 
taller than his brother, though not so fat. He 
is a man about forty-five years of age, and had a 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 33 

certain dignity and reserve in his demeanour that 
bespoke the chief: he wore a loose blue shirt. 
We were not long in bringing the subject of the 
temple to his notice, when he immediately said 
he would willingly give us his assistance to have 
it opened; pancakes of flour and butter-milk 
were now brought, on which we all feasted, 
making use of fingers instead of spoons, as these 
people have no idea even of the meaning of 
utensils of this kind. Coffee was now served, or 
rather a substitute for that beverage, which is not 
unpalatable; they call it gargadan; it is a small 
black grain, not unlike the English rape-seed; 
this they burn and pound like coffee, and it 
would puzzle many people who are not con- 
noisseurs to find out the difference. 

The two chiefs now dwelt much on the 
attempts which the French had made to induce 
them to consent to the temple's being opened, 
appearing to take great merit to themselves for 
having resisted all the offers that were made to 
them:— the presents were now brought, and given 
in the name of Mr. Salt ( 3 ) : to Daoud was given 
a handsome gun, which at Cairo cost five-hundred 
piastres, a turban which cost fifty, and some 
other trifles, such as gunpowder, soap, tobacco, 
coffee, sugar, &c. To Halleel a turban was pre- 
sented, and smaller articles equal in value to what 

D 



34 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

his brother had received. We now took our 
leave, but had scarce reached our boat when we 
heard that Halleel was highly offended because 
he had not received a gun as well as his brother. 
We immediately waited on him and endeavoured 
to appease him, explaining that we were not aware 
of the two brothers being both cashiefs,or we would 
certainly have brought him a gun as well as Daoud 
(the preceding year when Mr. B. was in Nubia, 
the younger brother had not assumed the title of 
cashief, nor was he treated as such) : we promised 
that if he would have patience, and confide in our 
word, that we would send him another gun 
exactly the same as his brother's; or if he pre- 
ferred it, that we would give him one of our own 
guns; though we confessed we had none half so 
good as the one we had already given, and 
advised him to wait till we got another, as he 
would lose much by accepting a bad one. All 
was however in vain, as nothing could appease 
him; he sat sulky in the corner, saying, he had 
better guns than ours, and that he knew what to 
do in his own country ; meaning that we should 
not open the temple. This was a sad and un- 
expected blow to our hopes ; we began to despair, 
and seeing nothing would please him we retired. 
A message now came from Daoud to invite us to 
partake of a sheep he had killed in order to 



LETTER I.] EGYJ?»T AND NUBIA. 35 

regale us; we went to his tent but found Halleel 
not there: we noticed this, and expressed our 
concern at the displeasure he had evinced. Daoud 
said his brother was only a boy; that he was 
indiscreet, and did not know what he did, and 
that we need not mind him. We now sent a 
message to him to say that we would not eat 
unless he came and ate with us, but he refused. 
Daoud now at our request went to bring him; 
but failing, he returned, saying, he was only a 
boy, and that he pledged himself we should open 
the temple. However, as we saw by Halleel's 
behaviour that he was of a mischievous disposi- 
tion, and a person likely to do us great injury, 
indirectly, if not directly, we judged it the best 
policy to bring about a reconciliation. Mr. B. 
accordingly went himself, and after much diffi- 
culty prevailed on him to come ; he, however, was 
still sulky, and we had scarce sat down to dinner 
when three strangers, apparently newly arrived, 
entered the tent, kneeled and kissed hands, paying 
their respects to Halleel before Daoud. We 
easily saw through this little trick, which was a 
concerted plan between the two brothers, to 
induce us to believe that each of them were 
equal, the one to the other, and thus to give 
Halleel more presents, from a supposition that 
his rank was equal to his brother's: the men 



36 TRAVELS IN [LETTER h 

belonged to the suite and were disguised for the 
purpose. 

After we had retired from dinner we went to 
see if Halleel was still displeased, and found him 
as sulky as ever; our crew and Hassan having 
been with him from the first moment of his ill— 
humour, and doing all in their power to put him 
against us; for which Daoud had reprimanded 
them severely. Perceiving there w r as no pleasing 
him, that neither presents nor promises were of 
any avail, we returned to the boat, Daoud having 
pledged his word that we should commence on 
the temple the following morning. Late in the 
evening we received a message from Halleel, 
requesting a gun, with some powder and shot : we 
immediately gave him ours, which though good 
for nothing, was, nevertheless, the best looking in 
our stock. This prompt compliance calmed his 
anger, and we began to congratulate ourselves on 
the prospect of ultimate success in our projected 
undertaking. Daoud Cashief sent a sheep. The 
only remaining difficulty now was to make the 
agreement with the workmen. The Farras man, 
who told us at Elpha u that we should hear of 
him below," now made his appearance, and en- 
deavoured all he could to thwart our preceedings ; 
we, however, took him to the cashiefs and ex- 
plained his conduct to them, which caused them 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. ,37 

to reprimand him, and he entirely failed in every 
point. After much altercation we were glad to 
agree for the men to work at two piastres each, 
per day. 

July 11. In the morning the two cashiefs 
came on board, and we proceeded to the temple, 
about a quarter of an hour's row from the village. 
The chiefs told us we were to have sixty men, 
and we paid for that number, while only fifty 
came. We were obliged also to give them doura, 
as they all complained of having nothing to eat; 
however, we had been at such anxiety about the 
temple, that we were glad to give them any 
thing provided they would but work. As it most 
likely would render you more acquainted with our 
proceedings, and the object of our research, to 
give you some description of the front of the 
temple, I shall proceed to explain where it was 
situated, how formed, and the manner in which 
the mysterious door was hidden from our cu- 
riosity. The temple is situated on the side of 
the Nile, about two or three hundred yards from 
its western bank; it stands upon an elevation, and 
its base is considerably above the level of the river : 
it is excavated in the mountain, and its front 
presents a flat surface of upwards of sixty feet 
in height, above the summit of the sand imme- 
diately over the door, but not so much as forty 



38 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

on the north side, and a little more on the south ; 
the breadth is one hundred and seventeen feet. 
Above thirty feet of the height of the temple, 
from the base, is covered by the accumulated 
sand in the centre, and about fifty feet on either 
side. You are, therefore, to figure to yourself a 
flat excavated perpendicular surface, fronting the 
river, and hemmed in by one side of a mountain 
of sand leaning against it ; the door in the centre 
of this plane surface buried in the sand, which 
rises on each side of it, increasing the labour and 
difficulty of digging down to a prodigious de- 
gree; for no sooner is the sand in the centre 
removed, than that on either side pours down, 
so that to get only a foot down in the centre, we 
had the labour of removing the whole surface 
of sand which leaned against the front of the 
temple ; this sand also was of so fine a description, 
that every particle of it would go through an 
hour-glass. Before the front of the temple are 
four sitting colossal figures cut out of the solid 
mountain, chairs and all: they are, however, 
brought out so fully, that the backs do not lean 
against the wall or front of the temple, but are 
full eight feet from it; and were it not for a 
narrow niche of the rock which joins them to 
the surface, from the back part of the necks 
downwards, they would be wholly detached. 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 39 

One of the statues has been broken off by a 
fracture of the mountain, from the waist upwards. 
There were twenty-two monkeys above the frieze 
and cornice ; of these there are not now above 
twelve perfect. Under the arm of one of the great 
figures we discovered the remains of the stucco 
with which they were once covered ; and traces 
of the red paint which was once on them is dis- 
cernible in many places. I think it very probable 
the whole front of the temple was once covered 
with stucco, more especially as they have used 
that material very liberally and skilfully in the 
decoration of the interior, of which I shall speak 
more fully in its proper place. Of the cornice over 
the door, which was once perfect, there is not at 
present more than a foot in breadth remaining, just 
over the corner where we entered ; in the progress 
of our labours, you will see what is become of 
the rest, and its mutilation caused us some very 
desponding evenings, as may well be imagined^ 
when there was so little indication of the temple 
being finished lower down than we could see. 

This description will give you some idea of the 
obstacles we had to surmount, and, at the same 
time, of the good reasons we had to expect a 
magnificent interior, should we ever succeed in 
the undertaking. 

J uly 1 1 . First day, the fifty men that came 



40 TRAVELS IN [LETTER U 

worked very badly, and we found that the burthen 
of the song which they sung by way of stimulating 
each other, was, " that it was christian money they 
were working for, that christian money was very 
good, and that they would get as much of it as they 
could :" — this Nubian song, though cheering to 
them, was not much so to us. In the evening we 
returned to the village of Ebsambal, and per- 
ceiving we should never make any progress with 
people who, being sure of their pay whether they 
laboured well or ill, would only work five hours 
in the day, we sent to the cashiefs, and con- 
cluded a bargain with them and the natives " to 
open the temple " for three hundred piastres. At 
this time none of us thought it would take more 
than four days to accomplish the undertaking, so 
little did we know of the real nature of our en- 
terprize. On the morning of the twelfth, the two 
cashiefs and about one hundred men came and 
worked very well, thinking they could open the 
temple in one day ; they requested we would 
not interfere in directing the labourers where to 
work, as it was now their own affair, they had 
undertaken the task, and were responsible for its 
execution. In the evening our boat's crew came 
and begged the intercession of the cashiefs to make 
peace ; they were the more anxious for an accom- 
modation, as by the quarrel they lost the heads. 



LETTER I;] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 41 

skins, and offal of the sheep which we occasionally 
killed. We made much ado to give in, but ulti- 
mately became reconciled ; the cashiefs bursting 
out into a violent rage against the crew, on our 
remarking that no European travellers would 
ever come into the country again, when they 
heard of the usage we had received. The dispute 
was scarcely at an end before our sailors asked 
for backsheeish ; this we positively refused till we 
arrived at Philae, and then only on condition of 
very good behaviour ; all came now and kissed 
hands in token of reconciliation. At sun-set we 
returned to the village of Ebsambal, when the 
chief of the labourers asked for two out of 
the three hundred piastres (though they had 
consented to be paid only when the temple was 
opened) ; we were, however, obliged to give one 
hundred and fifty, but said we would give no 
more till the work was finished. 

July 13. Only Halleel Cashief and about 
sixty men came ; they worked very ill, and ex- 
pressed doubts as to there being any door, though 
they had not yet got more than four feet down. 
While we were endeavouring to persuade them 
to persevere, one of the natives, a carpenter, with 
an audible voice, made a speech, the substance of 
which was, " that they would work the whole of 
the present and two successive days, and if in 



42 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

that time they found a door, well and good, if 
not, that they would lahour no longer." This 
brief effusion was received with tumultuous ap- 
probation, in which we thought it good policy to 
join, as neither our approval or displeasure would 
have had any weight with them, and it was pos- 
sible our being in good humour with them might 
induce them to do their work more cheerfully. In 
the evening we returned to the village, complained 
to the cashief of the badness of the work, and 
noticed the approach of the ramadan, when it 
was probable we should no longer be able to 
get workmen, and therefore our present efforts 
would be useless. Both the brothers now pro- 
mised us " a host of men next morning," and 
that they should begin early. While we were 
discoursing, some Mograbins on their way from 
Cairo to Dongola were introduced ; we remarked 
their melancholy looks, but were ignorant of the 
cause. Our business being at an end, we retired 
to our boat after having feasted on doura cake 
and dripping. 

July 14. Rose early, and sent to the cashiefs 
that we were ready, but, after waiting for three 
hours, they sent word to us to go and they would 
join by land ; so busied were they in plundering 
the Mograbins, that our temple and ourselves 
were not thought of. We accordingly went, and 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 43 

found only fifty men doing little more than nothing, 
and none of the leaders or attendants present, 
except old Mouchmarr, an elderly servant of the 
cashiefs. We asked him the reason of his 
master's absence, when he said " that we must 
not think him a Barbarin, that he was an Arab, 
and only lived in this country by force ; that 
both the cashiefs were robbers, and at present 
pillaging the caravan of Morocco ; and that the 
whole tribe of natives were nothing but a gang 
of thieves." We could not help laughing at the 
remarks of the old man, which though true 
enough, would have come better from another 
quarter, as he himself was an old rogue, as you 
will perceive in the sequel. At noon Daoud 
Cashief arrived ; the men still continuing to work 
without effect, we remonstrated with Daoud, but 
only received promises of great doings on the mor- 
row. We returned to the village in the evening, 
when the men asked for the remainder of the 
money ; this we refused, and in consequence there 
was much discontent evinced. Halleel Cashief 
now came to endeavour to persuade us to pay the 
money, but we persisted in refusing till they had 
worked the third day, according to their own 
promise. We were now told that if we paid the 
money they would come next morning and work, 
but if not, that not a man of them would come ; 



44 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

we still refused. Halleel now asked for one of Mr. 
Salt's handsome pipes, which the crew had told 
him was in the boat ; having previously begged 
the janissary to give him his silk waistcoat, and 
requested of our Greek servant his mameluke 
sabre ; this latter article belonged to Mr. Salt, 
was very valuable, and to save it, we had pre- 
tended it was the property of the Greek, not 
thinking the cashief would even beg of our 
servants. He had also asked the soldier for his 
pistols, offering him a slave in return ; — all was 
however refused. 

Tuesday, July ] 5. Both cashiefs came and 
some of the chiefs ; one in particular, a stranger, 
was highly dressed, and we were told he was a 
leading character, and had much influence with the 
natives ; that nothing could be done without him. 
But we had now seen enough of the character of 
the Nubians to perceive that this was only a 
trick to induce us to give the new comer some 
presents, and we therefore affected to take no 
notice of him, determined for the future to give 
no more than we could help. In the morning 
the men worked well ; our crew assisted them, 
and behaved better, but towards the evening the 
work went on badly. We returned to the vil- 
lage ; on the way Hassan told us we must go 
back to Phila?, in order to repair the boat, 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 45 

which he asserted to be leaky ; we soon gave him 
to understand that we had no intention of 
returning till we had accomplished our work. 
Soon after dark Halleel came to the boat to ask 
for the pipe again, but it was refused. 

Wednesday, July ] 6. First day of the moon, 
ramadan or Turkish fast, during which they do 
not eat or drink from sun-rise to sun-set. Early 
this morning Halleel sent us a water-melon, 
and shortly after made his appearance, begging 
the pipe again, which being worth upwards of 
sixty piastres, had greatly attracted his notice ; 
this third attempt was evaded, and he set off in a 
pet, without even taking leave, mounting his horse 
for Derry, where he intended passing the rama- 
dan. We now went to Daoud s tent to pay him 
a farewell visit previous to his departure ; he asked 
us what were our intentions respecting the 
temple ? We told him we were determined to 
work ourselves, and persevere till we came to 
the door ; he appeared much surprised at this, 
and said it was impossible we could succeed, 
recommending us to return, and come again after 
the month of ramadan, doubtless in the hopes of 
getting more presents. To convince him of our 
resolution to proceed, we told him that the Nile 
would as soon change its course, as we our deter- 
mination when once it was taken. He now 



46 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

asked the sailors if we had solicited their assist- 
ance, when they told him we had not mentioned 
the subject to them, which indeed was true ; he 
then asked when we thought we should reach the 
door ; we told him that was very uncertain ; he 
said if we thought we should be only three or four 
days, he would remain, but if more, he must be off : 
we answered that we expected to be eight or ten 
days before our work would be over. We now 
promised, that whenever we should be near the 
door, we would give him notice, that he might be 
present and get his share of the gold He gave a 
tacit sort of consent for us to proceed, and we 
took our leave, thanking him for what he had 
done for us. Amongst the warlike instruments 
in his tent, we observed a shield made of croco- 
dile's skin ; it was remarkably strong ; one of the 
protuberances of the animal's back served for the 
boss or centre, and one of those of the tail for the 
hollow of the elbow. The natives assured us it 
would resist a musket ball ; and if the skin of the 
living animal possesses this power, I do not see 
why one should doubt the assertion. In general, 
Nubian shields are made of the skin of the hip- 
popotamus. At twelve o'clock we sailed for 
the temple, and while going took occasian to 
represent to the reis and crew, that now we were 
about to be left together, we hoped they would 



LETTER ].] EGYPT AND NUBIA, 47 

continue to behave well and conduct themselves 
peaceably, promising on our part every indulgence 
they could reasonably expect, provided we had 
no fault to find with them ; they all promised to 
behave themselves orderly and quietly. We 
dined at one, and at three o'clock set off to begin 
our labour, going up alone and quietly that we 
might not wake the crew who were asleep on the 
beach, as we wished they should be prevented 
from rising high in their demands, by an apparent 
indifference on our part as to whether they 
assisted or not. We now stripped to the waist 
and commenced, six in number, including the 
Greek servant and the janissary, with a good will, 
and soon found that we made considerable pro- 
gress ; we resolved to keep to our work, and 
regularly to persevere from three till dark in the 
evenings, and from the very first dawning of the 
day till nine in the morning. After we had 
worked about an hour some of the crew came 
up, they appeared astonished to see us labouring 
without shirts, and expressed surprise at the 
progress we had made. They now began to 
assist, which we appeared to take no notice of; 
they worked well, and at dark we left off, having 
done as much as (speaking within bounds) forty 
of the natives would have done in a day. Our 
hands certainly suffered a little by blisters ; I had 



48 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

nine on one hand, and eight on the other. We 
were careful to encourage our sailors, and not to 
expect too much from them, as their being prohi- 
bited, though under a vertical sun, from eating or 
even drinking, rendered their case very different 
from ours. We returned to our boat in high 
glee at the favourable appearance of affairs. We 
had scarcely supped and retired to bed when we 
heard a strange boat approaching ; it proved to 
be Daoud Cashief on his way to Derry ; he had 
given a passage to one of our sailors who had 
waited behind at the village to get bread made. 
He sent us a kid with salaams, and a request that 
we would spare him some of our small coffee- 
cups, which were rather handsome : we sent him 
two, and at the same time requested of him a 
ludri (a skin to contain water), which he gave us ; 
lastly, a message came to say that he had left 
several of his servants behind him at Ebsambal, 
with orders to assist us with men, to procure us 
supplies and provisions, and, in short, to render us 
any service we might require. We thanked him, 
and renewed our promise of apprising him when 
we should be near the door, that he might not 
think we had any secret object in opening the 
temple during his absence ; for they all think we 
expect to find money should we succeed. Daoud 
now departed ; we gave our crew two piastres for 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 4$ 

each man, and one to each of the boys ; there 
were six men and two boys. We told them, at 
the same time, that if they consented to work at 
similar hours, and in the same manner as we did 
ourselves, they should daily receive the same 
sum: — these conditions were acceded to ap- 
parently with great eagerness. 

Thursday, July ] 7« Started at the dawn of day 
and worked hard, fourteen in number, till nearly 
nine o'clock, when the sun being at a considerable 
height, and shining directly on us, the heat obliged 
us to desist: we had made considerable progress, 
and as all our efforts were directed in the right 
way, we had reason to be well satisfied. The 
crew worked tolerably well; Hassan was on the 
opposite side of the river getting bread made, 
and looking out for a sheep. Dined at one, and 
at three renewed our operations : one of the crew 
did not come this evening; we took no notice of 
it, resolving to give him only half a day's pay; 
the rest worked tolerably well; we continued 
till star-light, and made great progress. At the 
latter part of the evening Hassan returned, having 
brought nothing with him ; at night we paid the 
crew. 

July 18. In the morning, at the very first 
dawning of day, we started to our work again, 
and called the crew, but as we expected from 

I 



60 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

the moment Hassan arrived, they all refused to 
work, alleging that the pay was not sufficient; 
that it was now ramadan, and that they ought to 
have thirty piastres per day. Our janissary now 
informed us that they had spoken of this aloud 
in the night that he might tell us. Seeing them 
in this humour, we told them that those who did 
not choose to work might let it alone; at half- 
past eight we left off, having done nearly as 
much work as if they had been with us : indeed 
we were astonished to see what steady persevering 
labour would do. One of the Ebsambal men 
came this morning and worked very fairly, pro- 
mising to bring ten more on the morrow: there 
came also a chief from the opposite side of the 
river with an offer of twenty men. We told him 
our terms of two piastres per day for each man, 
and that it was our intention to pay the money 
into the men's own hands, as we learnt that the 
cashiefs and chiefs had given each labourer one 
piastre only, and retained the other for them- 
selves. At three, we renewed our operations: 
a few of the crew came but worked very badly; — 
we left off at dark. 

Saturday, July 19. Commenced our labours 
before daylight; only two of the crew came and 
three other lads; the promised men from Eb- 
sambal and the opposite side of the river not 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 5 1 

arriving : we continued working till half-past eight, 
when just as we were about to leave off, Halleel 
Cashief and his court of bullies made their ap- 
pearance in a boat, and landing near our bark, 
came up to see what was doing. Immediately 
we saw them approaching we left off, and went 
down to our bark; Halleel and his myrmidons 
soon returned. Suspecting their roguish inten- 
tions, we, to avoid them, went to bathe ; the men 
from the opposite side of the river, about thirty 
in number, now arrived, but without tools; this 
disappointed us a little. On coming out of the 
water, we went to visit Halleel Cashief, as a 
compliment, to keep up appearances; while so 
doing, a desperate dispute took place between 
our janissary and Hassan, who seeing the former 
was not armed, chaced him into the boat with his 
drawn dagger, uttering savage imprecations at 
the same time. Halleel made a pretence to inter- 
fere, but soon after, while we were settling the 
dispute, he sneaked away in his boat with all his 
attendants, without taking any leave ; indeed he 
was off before we were aware, and we were very 
glad to find him gone. 

Our Greek servant now told us he had asked 
for some coffee, and on being told there was 
none, had desired the servant to say nothing to us 
about his having asked for it; he was veryinqui- 



52 TRAVELS IN [LETTER T. 

sitive about the stay we intended to make, and 
seemed desirous we should call on him at Derry 
on our return, no doubt in hope of getting some- 
thing more. The men worked pretty well to 
day; the Ebsambal man who had promised to 
bring his nine assistants never made his appea- 
rance; this we clearly saw was Halleel's doing. 
At night, when paying the men, we had a dispute 
with the workmen, who endeavoured to impose 
on us by false tickets; these tickets were slips of 
paper on which Mr. Belzoni wrote his name and 
issued them out to the workmen in the morning; 
on producing them in the evening they received 
their pay. This day the Darfur caravan, of 
four thousand camels, laden with gum, ivory, os- 
trich-feathers, tamarinds, rhinoceros horns, slaves, 
&c. passed on their way to Cairo : the mamelukes 
had made them pay nine thousand dollars (up- 
wards of two thousand pounds) at Dongola. 
Some of the jelabs who led the caravan came 
to see our operations : they had long hair 
greased with oil and hanging down in ringlets; 
some had it plaited : they wore sandals, had each 
a long spear, and altogether were singular figures. 

Sunday, July 20. At twilight we renewed our 
labours, and had sixty-four men to work; the 
crew stimulated them by a good example, which 
coupled with our own personal attendance, pro- 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 53 

duced a good morning's labour; at three P.M. 
recommenced our operations and got on tolerably 
well. This evening one of Daoud Cashief s staff 
arrived, with some aqua vitae, and a few dates as 
a present ; he also brought Irby and me some new 
Nubian clothes; two suits cost us twenty-four 
piastres, or twelve shillings; double what we 
had given for better things of the same kind at 
Momfalout. In the evening our cook threw a 
kettle of water in the face of a bully who asked 
him for money in a threatening manner: this 
truly cook-like mode of assault unsheathed the 
Barbarin's sword (for the most trivial occurrence 
produces their drawn weapons), and it was with 
difficulty we could prevent some serious mischief 
from ensuing. At night Daoud Cashief's mes- 
senger returned, having failed in an attempt to 
beg a pipe for his master. 

Monday, July 21. This day no men came from 
the opposite side of the river, but we had about 
forty from Ebsambal ; they worked tolerably well, 
and brought to light the bend of the right 
arm of the statue, to the north of the door, 
which was much broken: the discovery was 
highly satisfactory to us, as it proved that the 
statues were seated, and, consequently, that we 
should not have to dig down so deep for the 
door as if they were standing figures. In the 



54 travels in [letter r. 

evening the men worked tolerably well, and 
towards the close of the day we found a pro- 
jecting part of the wall roughly chiselled, uneven 
in its surface, and having every appearance of 
unfinished work. We could not see more than 
six or eight inches down, and it still continued 
the same: the projection was about four inches 
from the plane surface of the front of the 
temple, and it appeared to fill up the whole 
space between the two centre statues. This 
being exactly the place where we expected to find 
the door, the sudden change from a flat finished 
exterior, to a coarsely chiselled uneven surface, 
was precisely the circumstance most calculated to 
give the impression that the temple was unfi- 
nished, and that there was no door ; indeed we 
could not in any other way account for an 
appearance so extraordinary and unexpected ; 
discouraging as this discovery was, we never- 
theless resolved to proceed with our work, and 
to dig down till we had ascertained beyond all 
possibility of doubt, that there was no entrance 
to the temple. 

About eleven o'clock at night, a boat arrived 
from the opposite side ; they did not make any 
noise, but the reis sent word that he had brought 
a sheep for us ; the message was accompanied 
with the present of a water-melon. 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 55 

Tuesday, July 22. At daylight we found a 
great assemblage of people, the boat having 
brought them over in the night ; at the same 
time there arrived a considerable number from 
Ebsambal. As these two parties amounted to 
treble the number we wanted, we retired to our 
boat to avoid disputes, leaving thirty tickets with 
old Mouchmarr, with instruction to employ only 
that number ; returning in about half an hour, we 
found he had only given out twenty of the tickets, 
keeping the other ten to himself till the evening, 
which would give him twenty piastres. While 
we were settling this with the old rogue, a violent 
quarrel ensued between the natives of Ebsambal 
and the party from the opposite shore, as to who 
should be employed ; and after much noise and 
confusion, hostilities having commenced in a slight 
degree between the parties, the whole of them 
departed shouting and hooting, in number about 
two hundred, the stronger party not permitting 
the Ebsambal people to work. As they retired 
our crew serenaded them with repeated cries of, 
" barout, barout," which means powder, powder, 
an article they are not very partial to. In the 
evening we renewed our labours without any assist- 
ance, but soon had the crew and about twenty 
volunteers, who worked very well considering we 
had only three instruments* the Ebsambal men 



56 TRAVELS IN [LETTER L. 

having taken away four out of the seven we had 
hitherto used. They were of this form, 




and the mode of working was to fix the imple- 
ment perpendicularly in the sand, and then to 
pull it forward by a cord attached to it; one 
person was stationed at the handle to fix it in the 
sand, and another at the cord by which it was 
pulled forward. Instead of one, the Arabs gene- 
rally employed from four to six men at the cord. 
This evening we came to the chair of the statue, 
but still no indication of a door; the unfinished 
work continuing, though the figure, drapery and 
all, is perfectly finished as far as we could see 
down. 

Wednesday, July 23. It was curious to observe 
in the morning, on the smooth surface of the sand, 
drifted by the night breeze, the tracks of the 
snakes, lizards, animals, &c. &c. which had come 
down to the water's side during the night to 
drink ; and we could plainly discern the traces of 
their return to their solitary haunts in the desert. 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 57 

Sometimes their track indicated the presence of 
reptiles of considerable size ; and with these 
proofs of their nocturnal movements, we easily 
accounted for the dread our guides expressed of 
walking near the water's side the night we re- 
turned from the second cataract. We renewed 
our operations at the very first appearance of 
day, and soon had about twenty-six workmen 
together with the crew ; between eight and nine 
o'clock, as the people were working, we perceived 
a boat laden with men coming over from the 
opposite side. As soon as the Ebsambal people 
made them out, they all set off with old 
Mouchmarr at their head ; the latter saying he 
knew who they were, and would go and treat 
with them, as they were coming to prevent our 
work. The old fellow, it appeared afterwards, 
was more intent on his own safety, as both he and 
his party went and hid themselves in caves in the 
mountains. Suspecting something, we sent for 
all our arms from the boat and waited the event. 
The newly arrived party now made their appear- 
ance, about forty in number, armed mostly with 
muskets, pistols, sabres, and pikes ; they were 
much better dressed, and made a better figure 
than the attendants of Daoud and Halleel. 
There were two with white turbans, who ap- 
peared the leading characters ; these approached 



58 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

in advance of their attendants, and after the 
usual salaams and ceremony of salute, seated 
themselves near us, and presented us with two 
sheep, which their men had brought with them. 
We now desired our janissary to ask them the in- 
tention of their visit, and to tell them we had 
nothing to dispose of, having given all we had to 
spare to the two cashiefs below. They replied 
that they wanted nothing, that they were in the 
employ of the pashaw, that their office was to keep 
order and tranquillity in the country, and that 
they wished to know if any obstacles on the part of 
the inhabitants rendered their assistance necessary, 
as they were ready to be of service to us, hoping 
that on our return to Cairo, we should not fail to 
speak favourably of them to the pashaw. We 
replied that we were going on tolerably well, and 
that we did not stand in need of any assistance. 
After sitting about half an hour, they went down 
to the other temple, followed by all their atten- 
dants, and soon after sent our Greek servant up 
with a message, " that they were at war with the 
other two cashiefs ; that they were greater than 
them ; that they were the governours of this 
country; that when the others killed one man, 
they could kill two ; in short, that we had given 
a gun, shawl, soap, and tobacco, to both Daoud 
and Halleel, and why, they wished to know, was 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 59 

nothing given to them, who possessed double the 
authority of the brothers in this country, and 
could prevent our labour whenever they pleased ? 
finally, that they must have the same, and more 
presents than we had already given, or that 
we should not open the temple." They also 
wished to know under what authority we acted, 
and desired to see our firman. We replied 
to these menaces by the same observations 
we had made on their arrival, viz. that we had 
already given all we had to give away ; and we 
added, that as we had both the pashaw's and 
Deftarda Bey's firman for doing what we were 
about, any violence offered us would be sure 
to reach their ears. Their answer was, that 
they cared nothing about the pashaw : on seeing 
the firmans, they said they were good for nothing, 
being written in Turkish, not Arabic ; that 
they had no Turkish interpreter, and that were 
the firmans even in Arabic, nothing but presents 
would induce them to permit us to proceed. The 
crew now thought it a favourable opportunity to 
ask for one of the sheep (for each of which we had 
given ten piastres), but we immediately refused 
their request, explaining, that they were mistaken 
if they thought it a proper time to ask gifts, 
when other people were endeavouring to rob and 
plunder m ; that as soon as the banditti were 



60 TRAVELS IN [LETTER V 

gone, and we were at our own disposal, we might 
give them something, but never through fear of 
them, or to gain their favour. Soon after the 
two cashiefs and their gang proceeded to Eb- 
sambal ; we now learnt that they were Mahomed 
and Ali Cashief, that they lived a little above 
Derry, on the opposite side of the river, and were 
at war with Daoud and Halleel in consequence of 
their grandfather (Hassan's father) having killed 
some relation of Ali's many years ago. This is 
what the Barbarins call the " warfare of blood 
for blood," and it always lasts till an individual of 
one family is sacrificed to appease the other ( 4 ). 
Sometimes this hostility exists for many ages 
between families ; and it is for this reason that 
a murderer, who is one of our crew, dares not 
go to Philse or the neighbourhood of Assuan, 
where he committed the crime. 

At three P. M. renewed our operations and 
had a considerable number of assistants ; it was 
truly ridiculous to see old Mouchmarr now make 
his appearance, with his matchlock in his hand, 
and a few of the Ebsambal people. He took 
especial care to examine both up the river and 
down, to be sure that the cashiefs were well out 
of sight; and when he found the coast clear, he 
came to us to relate how his people had been in 
the habit of making slaves and prisoners of the 



LETTER !.] EGYPT AND N0BIA. 61 

other party; what numbers they had bound to- 
gether and thrown into the " Nile, &c. : we rallied 
him a little about his intercession. We found 
that the cashiefs had prevented many of our 
assistants from coming, and that they had plun- 
dered the whole country, taking two sheep from 
every sackey, and ten piastres from those who 
could not procure the animals. We also learnt 
that a fine of four dollars (thirty-six piastres) 
was to be levied on every one who came to our 
assistance. This evening our men worked very 
well; as they did not belong to Ebsambal, they 
knew they were out the cashiefs' reach. 

Thursday, July 24. At dawn of day went to 
work again; as we had broken our water-jars we 
asked the crew for our ludri which we had lent 
them, but Hassan said it was ramadan, and that 
as they could not drink water in the day time, 
they wanted our ludri to keep it cool for them 
in the evening, and that they would return it 
when they got to Philae. We gave them to un- 
derstand that we liked cool water as well as they 
did, and desired the janissary to take the skin 
without further ceremony; asking them at the 
same time if that was gratitude for the sheep we 
gave them yesterday : Hassan answered, that the 
sheep was lean and good for nothing, or we 
should not have given it. This morning we had 



62 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

about twenty workmen, but neither Mouchmarr 
nor the Ebsambal men came; after we had 
worked about an hour a party of about thirty 
came from the opposite side and volunteered to 
assist: as they were more than we wanted, and 
came late, we told them we would give them one 
and a half piastre each if they would work ; this 
they rejected at first, but soon returned and 
agreed. After they had worked nearly an hour, 
four other men came and solicited employ ; these 
we refused, when one of them displaying a dirty 
white turban as a flag, drew all the whole party 
off with a shout. After about a quarter of an 
hour's stay, however, they returned, having been 
told that we could do without them: the work 
now went on pretty well, the armed ruffians not 
making their appearance. In the evening the peo- 
ple worked very badly, being so numerous that 
one skulked behind the other. 

Friday, July 25. Got up at dawn of day and 
found one hundred men assembled, though the 
night before we told them that we did not want 
any more assistance: we explained this to them 
again, adding, that at most we could not employ 
more than twenty: they replied, that we must 
employ them all or none. Seeing them in this 
mood we returned to our boat, resolving to wait 
till they were all gone and knowing that the 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AjSD NUBIA. 63 

heat of the sun, at nine o'clock, would soon drive 
them away. After much noise amongst them- 
selves, and numerous ineffectual parleys, they all 
set off, taking all the instruments with them, 
and threatening our crew that if they assisted 
us they would acquaint Daoud and Halleel 
Cashief of it; thus showing that these brothers 
had ordered that no assistance was to be rendered 
us. Our sailors laughed at them, saying, they 
cared nothing about the cashiefs or any one else. 
Soon after this the whole rabble crossed the 
water, having a dirty white turban (the pro- 
phet's banner) hoisted. At three we renewed 
our work with six instruments which we had 
made ourselves: the crew and also that of ano- 
ther bark came, and assistance was also offered 
from a few others : we got on tolerably well. 

Saturday, July c l6. At dawn of day went up 
to our employment with the assistance we had 
the preceding evening, in all about twenty-three 
persons; our servants had another quarrel with 
the crew. A mameluke arrived from Dongola; 
he reported his countrymen in great misery at 
that place. He was on his way to Cairo to see 
his mother: his father was included amongst the 
mamelukes who were massacred at Cairo by the 
pashaw some years ago, and he had escaped with 
his uncle, who being lately dead, the lad was on 



64 . TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

his return to his only surviving parent. We now 
learned that Mahomed and Ali Cashief were 
gone down the river again with their plunder. 
In the evening renewed our operations. A man 
who had received money for our bread on the 
opposite side of the river, refused to bring it : we 
had a dispute in consequence, and, after much 
noise and confusion, half the quantity we paid for 
was brought, which we were glad to get. We 
now found the price of every thing we bought 
had doubled since our arrival; the natives hoped 
by these means to force us to relinquish our 
work, and, with our eyes open, we were obliged 
to submit to the imposition. 

Sunday, July 27- At dawn of day set to work 
again, and had only two assistants besides the 
crew, who worked remarkably well: several vo- 
lunteers came, but we rejected them on account 
of their laziness. One of our two assistants this 
morning sang a song to cheer up the crew; this is 
their constant custom when working; the words 
are as follows: " Oh Nubia, my country, thou 
smellest like a rose; when I sleep I dream of 
thee, and thou appearest a garden full of flowers." 
You may easily imagine that our ideas of Nubia, 
" where a flowering shrub is scarcely ever seen," 
were not in unison with those of our neighbour. 
We, however, found this a new proof of that 



"LETTER 1.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 



65 



happy disposition which nature implants in the 
breast of "every man to be partial to his native 
soil, be it what it may. 

" The naked negro panting at the line, 
Boasts of his golden sands and palmy wine : 
Basks in the glare, or stems the tepid wave, 
And thanks his gods for all the good they gave. 
Such is the patriot's boast where'er we roam, 
His first, best country, ever is, at home." 

At three we recommenced our operations; while 
we were working, arrived a spy from Daoud 
Cashief, who after having deliberately examined 
us, began by talking to the crew to draw them 
off from the work : he then asked old Mouchmarr, 
who had just arrived from the village with some 
bread for us, how he dared assist us; adding, 
that the cashiefs would cut off his head for it. 
This news did not appear very agreeable to 
our friend, who was now deterred from working 
as he had done the preceding day. Our young 
mameluke friend who understood the Barbarin 
language, unknown to the crew and natives, told 
us of this. The spy then informed us that a 
firman had arrived from the grand signior to 
supersede the pashaw in his government, and that 
new troops were now at Cairo. So paltry an 
attempt to alarm us, was answered by a hearty 
laugh, which made both the spy and his eountry- 

p 



€6 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

men look very foolish, until seeing the joke went 
against them, they put it off by a laugh also. 
In the evening old Mouchmarr came to be paid 
for his bread, and on being asked to bring more, 
said he did not like to tell us a falsehood, and 
that he had strict injunctions against bringing 
any thing more, or indeed rendering us any fur- 
ther assistance. We further learned that the 
whole of the native's on both sides of the river 
had mutually agreed that nothing was to be sold 
to us. It was hinted that we might have some 
men to work if we chose ; however, as our money 
was getting low, and as we had found that we 
did almost as much without, as with them, we 
sent word that we wanted nothing of them; we 
had three days bread, and our work had arrived 
at a point which would soon ascertain whether 
there was any door or not; we felt ourselves 
therefore quite independent of our troublesome 
neighbours. Old Mouchmarr now took his leave; 
it is but justice to the old man to say, that he 
behaved better than any of his countrymen. 

Monday, July 28. Commenced our operations 
at the usual hour, with only our sailors and the 
mameluke, no Ebsambal men making their ap- 
pearance; all worked pretty well. This morning 
no milk was brought; we affected to take no 
notice whatever of it, and at breakfast were par- 



LETTER I.J EGYPT AND NUBIA. 67 

ticularly careful that the crew (who came down 
and were watching us narrowly to see what effect 
the want of this luxury would have) should ob- 
serve no change in consequence, that they might 
report to the natives the poor success of their 
scheme. At three renewed our labours; while 
working, an Ebsambal man came to see what 
was going on; he said that if we wished it, a 
certain number of people would come from each 
sackey to assist, and he asked us if we wanted 
provisions; we refused all assistance. He then 
asked if we could live on stones ? we replied, that 
we had a boat to go and fetch whatever we 
wanted, and that money would always procure 
something; he now said we might think ourselves 
fortunate in having a soldier of the pashaw's with 
us, as were it not for fear of the consequences, 
in case any thing should happen to him, the 
whole body of natives would prevent our work 
by force. We replied, that we were determined 
to proceed; and that even were the soldier not 
with us, we would persist in our undertaking. 
He now began to brag of the number of armed 
people they could muster from the neighbour- 
hood : we, however, laughed at him, and he left us, 
having failed in all his designs. Our crew this 
evening worked very well, and we thought it good 
policy to tell them we noticed their exertions. 



68 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

Tuesday, July 29- At dawn of day we recom- 
menced our labours with the crew, and made 
considerable progress, no strangers making their 
appearance, the one who assisted us yesterday 
being deterred by the threats of the spy. In the 
evening, at three, renewed our work ; towards the 
close of day the sailors requested to be dismissed, 
that they might go to Ebsambal to get bread for 
themselves. We suspected some bad intentions 
on their part, but said nothing: Hassan had 
previously endeavoured to steal some of our 
doura (for bread we had none), but we were too 
sharp for him, and made his boy give us back 
what he had taken. 

Wednesday, July 30. At twilight we went 
to work again, the crew coming as usual: this 
morning our milkman brought us milk again, 
but said he was obliged to do it clandestinely. 
This was a real luxury, as we found, after four 
hours hard work on an empty stomach, that a 
limited ration of doura grain, dried dates, and 
'water, to which we were now reduced, was not 
very sumptuous fare. The reis of the bark, who 
had before cheated us out of our bread, now made 
his appearance again with some spirituous liquors, 
which he said he had brought as a present from 
the wife of Daoud Cashief. We clearly saw this 
was a trick to get a present to the bearer, which 



LETTER I.] 



EGYPT AND NUBIA. 



69 



is generally double the value of the article given; 
we therefore refused the present, but offered to 
purchase what he had; after some hesitation he 
consented: — it was the spirit distilled from the 
date, but without the addition of aniseed, which in 
Egypt makes it palatable. We generally took a 
little before dinner as a tonic ; for without some- 
thing of the kind (the average of the thermometer 
being one hundred and twelve degrees Fahrenheit 
in the shade) we found that we had no appetite. 
As soon as he had got his money he took himself 
off to the other side of the river, having evidently 
come to see if we yet began to complain for want 
of provisions. But although we had nothing to 
eat but doura, and only enough of that for four 
days, we never once mentioned the subject of 
provisions. This evening we came to a projection, 
evidently a cornice, though much broken by the 
shock of an immense block of stone that had 
fallen on it. Beneath the projection we found a 
plane and smooth surface, and a tablet of neat 
hieroglyphics, highly finished, carved thereon; the 
most favourable indication of a door we could 
possibly expect, and which much cheered our 
prospects. 

At three we returned to our operations, and by 
digging down and carrying away the sand with two 
boxes, we removed a sufficient quantity to make 



70 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

out about a foot of a tablet surmounted by a torus, 
and one end of a broken cornice above it; which, 
having been broken by some accident, has evi- 
dently been chiselled away since its completion, 
with the design of renewing it: the furrowed 
surface, and the marks of the tools in all direc- 
tions, though rudely done, and quite unfinished, 
prove this to be the case, and thus the mystery of 
the unfavourable appearances which had formerly 
given us so much uneasiness is cleared up. This 
evening Hassan asked, with more than usual 
impudence, for the pay of the crew, adding, that 
he wanted it immediately before it was dark. 

Thursday, J uly 31. At twilight resumed our 
task; palisadoed the part supposed to be imme- 
diately over the door, by driving in piles of date- 
trees, and pouring at the back of them mud 
mixed with sand to keep the outer sand from 
running in between them. Just as we were going 
to desist from our work, some armed men came 
from the opposite side of the river, who had 
been called over by Hassan: we enquired the 
reason of his calling them over, when he said he 
wanted the boat from the opposite side, to go 
and get some provisions for the crew. Our sailors 
talked freely with the strangers; we took no 
notice of them; they appeared very intent on 
what we were doing. This day the mameluke 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 71 

took his departure for Cairo; he went on a small 
reed raft which a Nubian was conducting down 
the river; Hassan ran with great eagerness to 
send some message by the stranger; no doubt 
to apprise the cashiefs below of the progress of 
our work. 

In the evening we resumed our labours with 
the crew and two strangers; towards sun-set we 
came to the corner of the door; it was rather 
broken. The sailors, on seeing it, expressed great 
signs of joy, uttering cries of" backsheeish, back- 
sheeish," and immediately asked us if it was not 
true, that we had promised them money when- 
ever we should find the door : we replied, that we 
certainly had promised them a present, and would 
give it when we had entered the temple. The 
fellows now began working hard to enlarge the 
entrance, appearing in high good humour, and 
occasionally repeating the favourite word " back- 
sheeish," tyep, tyep — good, good. At dusk we 
had made an aperture nearly large enough for a 
man's body, but we could not tell whether the 
sand would be necessary to be drawn up from 
the entrance or not, which left us in great un- 
certainty as to the time when our labours would 
end; for should the temple be much filled with 
sand, we might have a prodigious deal of work to 
do yet. When we returned to the boat, Hassan 



72 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

told Captain Jrby and myself, it was totally im- 
possible we could ever get into the temple by 
palisadoing ; that the sand would fall on us as fast 
as we dug down,, and that it was like attempting 
to dig into the Nile ; at the same time he offered 
to forfeit his beard if we succeeded ; all the crew 
joined in the same assertion. But it was the only 
method of getting at the door, unless we cleared 
it altogether, which would have taken a good 
month more. 

We resolved to begin the next morning by 
moon-light, and apprised the crew of our inten- 
tion, that they might not think we wanted to 
steal in by ourselves, and thus bring away the 
gold unknown to them. As the day's discovery 
had put us all in good humour, our sailors at- 
tempted to profit by it; they asked our cook for 
his new silk waistcoat, and begged of the Greek 
his new blue gown; they did not solicit any thing 
further from us, thinking it best to wait till they 
got our backsheeish. 

At moonlight on Friday morning, August the 
first, the anniversary of the battle of the Nile, we 
rose and went to work. We called the crew, 
but as they did not appear in any hurry to 
come, we went up alone with lights ; while 
making our arrangements to begin, we heard a 
great noise below, plainly distinguishing Hassan's 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 73 

roaring voice above all the rest, and the word 
backsheeish frequently repeated. The Greek 
servant being sent down for a lamp, returned 
with an account that they were all abusing us, 
and complaining that after having worked hard 
for us, they only received two piastres per day, 
instead of four which they merited (I should here 
tell you that their monthly wages from the reis, 
were from seven to nine piastres each man). We 
were called christian dogs without faith, and they 
said we must take all our things out of the boat 
immediately, as they would stay no longer, 
having remained till they were tired, and in a 
place were they could get no provisions. Mr. 
Belzoni now went down to find our hammer 
which was mislaid, resolving to abstain from any 
argument with them ; immediately on seeing him 
they all fell down on their kness, and began pray- 
ing, bowing down, and kissing the ground accord- 
ing to their custom. He took no notice of them, 
but brought all our arms and ammunition up ; 
the janissary also went and brought his pistols, 
Hassan saying in his hearing, that he must 
carry a soldier on his back to Derry, implying 
that he must murder the janissary, though it was 
but the day before that he came to him saying that 
he wished to make peace, and that what he had 
formerly said against him came from his warmth 
of temper, and not from his heart. 



74 TRAVELS IN [LETTER 1° 

As soon as we had commenced working by 
candle-light, one of the crew came to say that we 
must embark immediately and depart, or land 
our effects and let the boat go, as they could wait 
no longer ; we sent word that they might go 
whenever they pleased, but it would be to their 
own loss if they did, as we would pay them 
nothing ; and that for our part we were deter- 
mined to remain till our work was completed ; 
having said this, we continued our work. The 
crew now made their appearance in a body, 
dressed in their turbans and gowns, as at Elpha ; 
this being their custom when they wish to appear 
of consequence. They were armed with long 
sticks, pikes, swords, daggers, and two old rusty 
pistols, which would be more likely to kill the 
person who fired, than him who was fired at. In 
reply to our inquiry of what they wanted, they 
made long complaints of being badly paid, and 
of never having received any adequate recompence 
for having brought us provisions from the neigh- 
bouring villages, and for all their other endea- 
vours to please us ; that they had waited here till 
the last moment, and must now go down the 
river, all at the same time joining in savage 
imprecations, and scraping the sand with their 
hatchets and swords ; the reis, who was the fore- 
most of the party, in feigned paroxysms of anger, 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 75 

threw the sand up in his face, where the perspi- 
ration caused it to stick ( 5 ) ; at the same time we 
were accused of calling out " barout, barout," to 
the Ebsambal people, though it was themselves 
that first taught us the meaning of that word. 

As all this farce was performed to intimidate us, 
and to extort a sum of money from us as a reward 
for their remaining till the temple was opened, 
we took care that they should see by our conduct 
that the scheme entirely failed ; therefore, avoiding 
all passionate behaviour, we replied coolly and de- 
liberately to all their lying imputations, telling 
them that if they studied their own interests, they 
would behave very differently ; that this of all 
others was the most unlikely method to obtain any 
thing from us ; and that as they had staid ninety- 
nine days, why not remain the hundredth ? After 
several other arguments, all as useless as they 
were false, one of the crew stepped forward, and 
pretended to be a peace-maker; the janissary 
meantime had squeezed himself through the hole, 
and entered the temple during the debate unknown 
to them, till one of the strangers having stolen be- 
hind to see what work we had done, found it out, 
and apprised the crew. They now seeing them- 
selves foiled in every way, pretended to suffer the 
mediator, with some reluctance, to disarm them, 
and then began stripping to work, laughing and 



76 TRAVELS IN [LETTER f, 

repeating tyep, tyep — good, good. Berby tyep> 
(berby, means temple). We deemed it our best po- 
licy to suppress our feelings and appear reconciled. 
Hassan bad told the cook tbat tbey could murder 
us all if they chose ; that neither law or justice 
were known in this country ; that they could, after 
committing the crime, fly to the mountains, where 
no one would pursue them ; that they were not the 
poor people we took them for ; that they had kept 
the French at bay four years ; that they kept their 
own slaves, cattle, &c. &c. We were not told of 
these expressions of theirs till we went down to 
breakfast at ten o'clock. 

We now entered the temple, and thus ended all 
our labours, doubts, and anxiety. This morning 
we built a wall to barricade the door ; it was 
made of stones and mud, with a foundation of 
date trees driven in to prevent the sand from 
giving way. A toad crept out of the temple 
while we were thus employed, and hid himself in 
the rubbish at the entrance. We now brought 
down to the boat some statues of calcarious stone 
which we found in the temple. There were two 
sphinxes, emblematical of Osiris (lion's body and 
hawk's head) ; a monkey similar to those over the 
cornice, only smaller ; and a kneeling female 
figure, with an altar having a ram's head on it in 
her lap. At three we went to work again ; twa 



LETTER I.] 



EGYPT AND NUBIA. 



77 



of the Ebsambal peasants came, and appeared 
astonished that we had succeeded. They said 
the country people had no idea we should have 
accomplished our undertaking. They appeared 
to think the temple would make a good hiding 
place for their cattle, &c. whenever the Bedouins 
came to rob them. 

Saturday, August 2. Continued working at 
the wall before the door. Hassan asked for some 
of our money to go and purchase a sheep, sti- 
mulated no doubt by the expectation of the share 
they always had, viz. the entrails, skin, and head, 
none of the former of which the crew rejected ; 
on one occasion I saw one of them eating that 
part raw, as they were skinning the animal. Re- 
duced as we were to nothing but doura, a grain 
not unlike pearl barley, we told our friend it was 
to no purpose to bring us meat when we had no 
bread, and that unless he brought the latter, we 
did not want or wish him to bring the former ; 
they now took the money, promising to bring 
us bread also. We did not employ the sailors 
this evening, having finished the wall. Hassan 
was roaring and grumbling all day about 
money, in hopes that his bawling would induce 
us to give more ; we took no notice of him, 
determined to give the money when they had put 
the statues into the boat ; for we now perceived 



78 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

there was a great difficulty made about them. 
We this day took all the measurements of the 
temple, both externally and internally; Captain 
Irby and I undertaking this task, while our com- 
panions were employed about their drawings. 
Towards the close of the evening the man brought 
us some cakes of doura and a sheep, for which, 
however, he made us pay thirteen piastres, a 
third more than the articles were worth. 

Sunday, August 3. This morning some Ebsam- 
bal people brought us some butter and a lamb ; 
we told them, however, that now they might keep 
their provisions to themselves. In the evening 
the crew, after much disputing with Hassan (who 
was against the measure), put the statues into 
the boat ; this being the condition on which they 
were to receive the backsheeish. Soon after this 
we gave them a present of forty piastres amongst 
them ; we had considerable difficulty in satisfying 
them, for the reis, on perceiving the money, 
snatched it up, saying it was his share ; we, 
however, took it from him, and distributed it 
according to our original plan. 

I shall now give you some further particulars 
respecting the exterior of the temple, and then 
proceed to notice the most prominent beauties of 
the interior. The four colossal figures in front of 
the temple are all of men ; they are in a sitting 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 79 

posture, above sixty feet high, and the two which 
are partly uncovered, are sculptured in the best 
style of Egyptian art ; and are in a much higher 
state of preservation than any colossal statues 
remaining in Egypt. They are uncovered at 
present only as far as the breast ; before the 
recent excavations, one of the faces was alone 
partly visible, and part of the head-dress of 
the other remaining two. The face of the statue, 
whether taken in the front view or profile, ex- 
hibits one of the most perfect specimens of 
beauty imaginable ; it has so far resisted the 
effects of time, as not to have the least scratch or 
imperfection ; and there is that placid serenity 
which one admires in most of the Egyptian 
countenances. The face of the statue, No. 3, has 
a more serious aspect, the nose is not so aquiline, 
nor is the mouth so well turned ; it is not, 
however, without its beauties, and perhaps a 
better judge would say the features possess more 
character than the former. The statues are not, 
however, without their imperfections ; the necks 
are short, out of all proportion, and the ears are 
placed considerably too high, a defect very com- 
mon amongst the Egyptian figures ; the bodies 
also seem to lean rather too much forward for 
the natural position of a sitting figure. However, 
it was hardly fair to pass one's judgement on this 



80 TRAVELS IN [LETTER 1. 

latter defect, as being partly uncovered, they 
could not be seen to proper advantage. 

Little or no space appears to have been left 
between the figures on either side, and scarcely 
more in the centre than sufficient for the door. 
Immediately above the door, which was formerly 
surmounted by a cornice, now broken, is a tablet 
of hieroglyphics, over which is an oblong square 
niche enclosing a standing figure of a hawk-headed 
Osiris, in full relief, projecting no more than the 
depth of the niche itself. On the head of this 
figure is a globe, and below, on each side of the 
legs, are two symbols, which appear suspended 
from his hands ; one is a small female figure, the 
other a staff surmounted with the dog's or fox's 
head. On either side of the niche is a female 
figure in intaglio, presenting an offering to the 
Deity, and various hieroglyphic inscriptions, pro- 
bably descriptive of the oblations. The cornice 
above the door presents a very curious appearance ; 
it has been broken by a fall of part of the rock 
above, and the chisel has since been evidently 
employed to form the remaining part into some 
other shape, or to fashion it in a manner ready 
to admit of the building of a new cornice, or some 
other ornament of that description. 

The interior of the temple is one hundred and 
fifty-four feet long, by fifty-two broad, (exclusive 



4k desire of JWSalt : present i&Iess^JBeechv 
^ ns CIrby & d-MangZes , R.JST. 
•iSr n clearing away die sand was 22 days j the.. 
• done by loojfarives paid by Henry Salt JUsaT 
lui-Egypt ;) the fast If days only the four 
tioned, assisted by a Turkish So Idier and 
ured at the undertojci/ig f the natives having 
rtance J viz- Jo hours each day, from dayfufht 
ig, Sc from, 2 f when the Mountain afforded 
}usk : the depth of sand diva down was ahout 
te heiaht of the TheV in the shade darirta 

.Drawn on c ^ 



222 °. of FahrenJieit 

ioys their food consisted of only dour a & 

iving cut off their supplies in order to prevent 
ef erred t r . , 
Us/. 



Not 



in which t 



rhing their ohy'cct 



F_ 




Re 

1 Half of Statu 

2 Fart of aJdon 

3 J>ede.ftaZ of 
4- Statute answen ) 

5 diions body wit G ) 

6 Jiemaznzna \ 
J -Lions body -wit 

8 fragment ofiE, eat 0uunier ^ ^et try . 

of <*, hinge. , c Cohurvns , with standing Staines of 

9 ^ ma ^ nxn ^9 P m 30 heet hiyh attached to than . 
agment. 

y. Columns supporting the -J *!«* Cftarnjber . 
j in the inner chamber or- Sanctuary . 
ttiag Statues attfie r.ctrctnit\ l of the sa> 



lO Fr. 



11 -Fragment . 

1Q ^d beantirldly 
ah oat 6 feet 
decayed to ad 

13 Sole, through 



hvr never finished . 



le of Feet. 



luhiers, attached to it. 

Y 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 8 1 

of the side chambers) it is comprised of fourteen 
separate apartments, whereof the first is a prin- 
cipal hall fifty-seven feet, by fifty-two ; the 
second, an anti-chamber, thirty-seven feet, by 
twenty-five ; the narrow chamber crossing the 
other two, thirty-seven feet, by nine feet eleven 
inches ; after which comes the sanctuary, twenty- 
three feet seven inches, by twelve feet three inches ; 
the rest are side apartments, whimsically placed 
in various directions. The interior of this temple 
is a work not inferior to afly excavation in Egypt 
or Nubia, not even excepting the Tombs of the 
Kings ; indeed the effect produced on first en- 
tering it, may be considered as more striking 
than any which those can afford ; the loftiness of 
the cieling, the imposing height of the square pil- 
lars, and of the erect colossal statues attached to 
them, full thirty feet high ; and the whole dimen- 
sions of the apartments on a much larger scale 
than any of the other excavations, all contribute 
to render the interior of this temple not less 
admirable than its splendid exterior. 

The sculpture on the walls is not so well 
finished, nor the colouring so perfect as in the 
Tombs of the Kings, but the composition and 
invention of the design, and the spirited execution 
in the performance, may be considered as fully 
equal to any thing in Egypt. The extreme heat 

G 



82 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

and closeness of the apartments, occasioned by the 
want of a free circulation of air, have contributed 
materially to injure the colouring, but enough 
still remains by which to judge of what is lost, 
and to convince the spectator of the original 
beauty of the work. The most conspicuous 
groups appear to represent the victories of some 
celebrated hero, apparently the same who is 
depicted at Medinet Aboo, Luxor, Carnack, and 
other parts of Egypt, together with the trium- 
phant processions and consequent offerings to the 
deities. There is little difference in these groups, 
from the similar sculptures in the buildings above- 
mentioned ; the hero appears in the same manner 
in his car ; he is of a gigantic stature^ and is 
destroying his enemies with his arrows ; the 
vanquished sue for mercy ; the discomfiture and 
flight of their companions ; the procession of the 
prisoners, and the distribution of the other parts of 
the groups, are likewise nearly the same. The hero 
himself appears to be no other, but the prisoners 
seem to be of different nations from those repre- 
sented in other places ; and it is not a circum- 
stance of little interest to see here, painted in 
glowing colours, the costumes of the various 
tribes of the interior of Africa, at a date so re- 
mote, that one knows no where else to look for 
any description either of their manners or 1 their 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. S3 

customs. How interesting would a minute copy 
of these groups be to travellers in the interior of 
Africa! who could compare them with the customs 
of the present day. Some of the captives are per- 
fectly black, and have all the characteristics of the 
tribes of the interior of Africa — such as woolly 
hair, thick lips, long sleek limbs, &c. ; others are 
of a lighter hue, not unlike the present race of 
Nubians. The most common dress consists of 
the leopard's and tiger's skin, fastened round the 
waist, while the upper part of the body remains 
uncovered. The cap which they most commonly 
wear is of a construction which I do not recollect 
to have observed elsewhere, and appears to con- 
sist of the leaves of the palm tree, dried and cut 
in slips; while the workmanship is a sort of neat 
plaiting, apparently worked with much ingenuity. 
Those who wear the caps have no hair, but some 
are distinguished by bushy hair and beards. 

In one of the groups is represented the storm- 
ing of a fortress, of very singular construction, 
which is defended by people of the race just 
mentioned. On the top are seen women, among 
whom, one in a sitting posture, wholly divested of 
drapery, and of a light complexion, bears no 
resemblance in character or attitude to those 
represented in other places by the Egyptians. 
The hero who directs the assault of this fortress 



84 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

is, as usual, of gigantic stature. On the plain 
below are seen the peasants driving their cattle 
away from the presence of the conqueror, designed 
with great spirit of action; some of the besieged 
party are also kneeling and imploring clemency. 
The arrows are flying from all quarters amongst 
the defendants, and some are seen plucking them 
from their foreheads, arms, and other parts of the 
body. Large stones hurled down from above, do 
not in any way intimidate the attacking party. 
The group of twelve supplicating victims, which 
the hero is represented in another part as 
grasping with one hand by the united hair of 
their heads, while with the other he uplifts the 
axe to sacrifice them, is executed with much 
energy and force ; and the marked difference of 
character in the several countenances of the 
various tribes they belonged to, is executed in a 
masterly style ; the expression of agony and 
despair in their several features are finely traced. 

In this temple we found several detached 
statues of calcaneus stone ; one of which, a little 
larger than life, is executed in a better style than 
is generally to be met with in Egyptian sculpture ; 
the head and lower part of the legs are wanting, 
as well as one of the arms, but the remaining 
parts sufficiently attest the skill and good taste 
of the sculptor. The figure is an upright one, 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 8.5 

and seems to have represented either Osiris or 
the hero depicted on the walls. The surface of 
what remains is scarcely injured ; but the sub- 
stance of the stone is so decayed by time, that any 
attempt to remove it would probably occasion its 
total destruction. I have already described the 
other statues which we brought away. These 
were found in different parts of the temple; half 
a monkey at one end, and the other half at the 
other, and so on. 

How long this temple has been buried, is a 
question which must ever remain unanswered ; 
forty feet of sand had accumulated in the centre 
above the top of the door, before the recent ex- 
cavations, which were carried no further than 
three feet below the top of the entrance. There 
is reason to suppose that the temple was deserted 
before any sand had collected in front of it, but 
there is nothing either in the interior or without, 
that can indicate the age in which it was aban- 
doned. Very little sand was found in the temple 
compared with what might have been expected; 
it did not reach beyond the second pilaster, and 
was not much broader than the door-way. This, 
no doubt, is partly owing to the great depth 
(eighteen feet eleven inches) of the entrance. 
A light black substance, which seemed to be 
decayed wood, was found in every apartment, in 



86 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

some places of the depth of two feet ; its surface, 
allowing for the difference of colour, was not 
unlike that of snow, when it has been frozen over 
by one night's frost ; it cracked under the foot, 
leaving the impression. Many small pieces of 
wood were strewed about, apparently little in- 
jured by time, but which, on being touched, 
crumbled into dust. The wooden pivots on 
which the doors traversed, still remain in the 
upper corner of all the entrances to the different 
chambers; and we also found small fragments of 
wood in many places. Some of these appeared so 
perfect that we thought of bringing them away, 
but they mouldered at the first touch ; we were, 
therefore, very careful in leaving what remained 
for the benefit of future travellers. A broken 
brass socket, for the pivot of a door to traverse 
on, was also found. 

The extreme heat of the temple was such, that 
Mr. Beechey spoiled his drawing-book, while only 
copying one of the groups ; the perspiration 
having entirely soaked through it. It has the 
feeling and the effect of the hottest vapour bath. 
In the centre of the sanctuary is a bench with 
four sitting statues ; the one on the right is 
Osiris, with the hawk's head and globe; the 
others are human figures ; two have the crux 
ansata ^. in their hand. I shall send you a 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 87 

ground plan to convey some idea of the form of 
the temple, and also of the whimsical disposition 
of the chambers. 

I will conclude this long description with 
a few remarks on the eight standing figures of 
Osiris, thirty feet high, which ornament the outer 
hall, and between which is the passage into the 
interior of the temple. These figures are as well 
proportioned as they are highly finished ; the 
drapery reaches nearly half way down to the 
knees, and is striped like that of the figures 
without. The features of the countenances are 
perfect, and they all have the hook and scourge 
(the usual emblems of Osiris) in either hand, 
which are across on the breast. The arrangement 
of the statues in the ground plan is exactly as 
we found them. 

I shall now describe what we, speaking com- 
paratively, call the small temple of Ebsambal. 
The direction of the river here is W. S. W. 
and E. N. E.; both the temples are situated 
on the left bank, at the ends of the two 
mountains which form the valley, by which the 
sand which has buried the great temple found 
its passage. Both are cut out of the solid rock, 
which is of a sandy or calcarious nature. The 
easternmost and smallest appears to have been 
made before the other, as the style of the colossal 



90 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

is thirty-six feet by thirty-four; the space in the 
centre between the pilasters is fourteen feet six 
inches, and they are seven feet eight inches from 
the wall: the distance between the pilasters five 
feet nine inches ; their dimensions three feet seven 
inches, by three feet three inches. The breadth 
of the second chamber eight feet five inches ; its 
length is the same as the first, and also taken at 
right angles with the door: the sanctuary is 
seven feet ten inches, by eight feet nine inches: 
on each side of the second chamber is a small 
side apartment six feet square. 

I shall now describe the decorations of the 
interior, and rather minutely, as there is more 
uniformity, and evident allusion to the deity to 
whom the temple is dedicated (Isis), than is 
generally met with. The interior of the porch 
is ornamented on each side by an offering to Isis 
from a human figure. Within the chamber, on 
each side of the entry, is a large figure, with an 
axe in one hand, while with the other he grasps a 
bow, and a kneeling victim held by the hair of 
the head. On either side are two human figures : 
that in front has a knife upheld, and appears to 
command the sacrifice; while that behind seems 
to preside over it with the lotus flower in her 
hand: the opposite side is the same, excepting 
that the figure commanding the sacrifice is Osiris- 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 91 

On the left, as you enter, the wall is embellished, 
first, with an offering to Isis ; secondly, the initia- 
tion, by Jupiter Amnion and Osiris, of a young 
priest; thirdly, an offering by a female figure, of a 
small sistrum, surmounted by the head of Isis and 
the serpent, together with the lotus flower, to a 
male figure; fourthly, an offering of a small sit- 
ting figure with the crux ansata on its knees (which 
are cocked up) to a male figure. On the right 
hand the wall is ornamented, first, with an 
offering of provisions to Osiris, with the scourge 
in his hand; secondly, an offering of the lotus 
flower and three water pots, pouring water on 
other flowers, to Jupiter Ammon; thirdly, an 
offering to Isis of two small heads of that deity 
surmounting two short handles or staffs ; fourthly, 
an offering to Osiris of two small water vases. At 
the end on one side of the door is an offering to 
Isis of the lotus; and opposite is the same 
offering to a female figure. The inner chamber 
has offerings to Isis and Osiris, and the initiation 
of a priestess by two isides; the sanctuary has 
a small figure, in alto-relievo, in a recess at the 
end. 

Monday, August 4. Early this morning we 
started on our return, and soon saw on the 
eastern bank Mahomed and Ali Cashief, together 
with the band of thieves that had attempted to 



92 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

plunder us : they hailed to ask if we had opened 
the temple, and how much money we had found 
in it. In the evening we called on Daoud 
Cashief, who protested his innocence of the 
transactions at Ebsambal, even before we had 
mentioned the subject; this was certainly not 
very wise in Daoud, as nothing could tend more 
to prove his guilt; and if further evidence were 
necessary, we saw amongst his train several of 
the principal spies and bullies that had annoyed 
us. It was, however, necessary to dissemble, and 
appear to credit him, as a contrary line of con- 
duct could lead to no good; and after receiving 
a present of a sheep, goat, and some bread^ 
together with his promise to keep the temple 
open for Mr. Salt, we took our leave ; when near 
Derry we met Halleel crossing the water to be 
present at our interview with his brother, and 
thus get his share of any thing else that could be 
squeezed out of us : he was, however, too late. In 
the evening we arrived at Derry, and went to see 
the temple with candles. This temple is situated 
about a quarter of a mile from the town : it is cut 
in the solid rock, but is so much ruined that 
nothing perfect is to be seen. There has been a 
middling sized hall, with eight square pilasters 
and four terms, with standing figures in alto- 
relievo; the latter seem to form a sort of portico 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 93 

to the principal chamber. The eight outer 
pilasters have fallen, but those of the portico 
are perfect with the exception of the terms, 
which have all been broken off. Within is the 
principal chamber, seventeen paces by sixteen, 
supported on each side of the centre by three 
pilasters: this latter leads to the sanctuary, on 
each side of which is a small chamber surrounded 
with benches. At the further end of the sanctuary 
are the marks of four sitting statues which have 
been chiselled off : they appear to have resembled 
those of the large temple of Ebsambal. In this 
temple the stucco and paint is imperfect, and the 
whole has a black and dismal appearance; but to 
judge from the size and execution of the figures, 
&c. in entaglio, on the walls, it may once have 
been tolerably handsome. The dedication ap- 
pears to have been to Osiris. There are boats, 
battles, sacrifices, &c. like those at Ebsambal. 

We had just gone to bed this evening, when 
Halleel arrived ; we sent word that we were 
asleep. He sent us a present of some aqua vitas, 
and a miserable sheep ; all these presents are 
paid for at the rate of double their value. 

Tuesday, August 5. Early this morning Hal- 
leel came on board, when we gave him to under- 
stand what we had told his brother, viz. that we 
had nothing left to dispose of, having given away 



94 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

every thing that we had to spare. AH this while 
he was whispering to one of our sailors, asking, 
no doubt, if we had any thing left, and whether 
it was true, that we had not given his brother 
any thing. He now examined attentively every 
thing in the cabin, but observing nothing was 
forthcoming, he took his leave, and we started also, 
glad to get rid of him and Derry too. It was here 
that poor Norden, eighty years ago, met with the 
treatment from Bar am Cashief, which prevented 
his going farther up. This morning we visited 
the temple at Armada, and saw two gazelles 
near it. This temple is built in the desert (at 
least it is desert now), not far from the river, on 
the opposite side from Derry, and about one 
quarter of the w ay between the latter place and 
Koroseoff. It consists of a hall, supported by 
twelve pilasters and four pillars, in four rows of 
four each; but as a wall of intercolumniation 
surrounds it, the detached pilasters and pillars 
within the hall are only six in number. Beyond 
the hall is a small cross chamber, nine paces by 
three, and within that is the sanctuary, which is 
eight paces by three. The interior of the latter 
is daubed over with plaster, and modern Greek 
paintings of the twelve apostles, saints, &c. 
Underneath this plaster, however, the ancient 
Egyptian figures and hieroglyphics, &c. in bas- 



LETTER I.] EGYPT ANET NUBIA. 95. 

relief, appear ; they have been executed in a very 
superior style, and the colouring has been rich 
beyond description. There is a small chamber on 
each side of the sanctuary. The dedication is to 
Osiris. The sand has drifted into, and nearly 
filled up the hall; some modern sun-burnt brick 
ruins attached to the temple may have been addi- 
tions by the Greeks. 

At noon we arrived at Sabour, and proceeded 
to inspect its temple, situated on the western 
bank, about one hundred yards from the river 
side ; it is built of calcarious stone, in a plain at 
the foot of the mountain, at present covered with 
sand. The approach to it is by an avenue of 
sphinxes (lion's body and woman's head), having 
two statues in a standing position at the end 
nearest the Nile, all of calcarious stone. At the 
further end of the avenue is a pylone, with two 
fragments of ill-carved statues, at present thrown 
down ; they are all full length figures, and much 
dilapidated. On each side of the entrance within 
is a peristyle space, with four terms on either side ; 
these appear to form the hall of the temple, 
which being covered with sand cannot be en- 
tered. The masonry is here much ruined, and 
there is not one perfect figure to be found. We 
observed that the hieroglyphics on the back of 
the two statues nearest the temple were the same 



96 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

as those on the frieze of the large temple at 
Ebsambal, with the difference only of being 
written vertically instead of horizontally. These 
hieroglyphics occur on either side of the crux 
ansata, which occupies the centre of the frieze, 
on one side written from right to left, and on the 
other from left to right. The hieroglyphics on 
Cleopatra's needles at Alexandria, are exactly 
the same about one-fourth down ; and we noticed 
the same characters on the two great obelisks at 
Luxor. 

Towards the close of the evening we had 
another quarrel with Hassan, who drew his 
dagger on Mr. Belzoni, uttering savage impre- 
cations, and saying, that all who disbelieved in 
the prophet were dogs. We made a great effort 
to get him out of the boat, but the reis and crew 
adhered together so much, that we could not 
succeed. In this country it is difficult to chastise 
an insult; for should a traveller so far forget 
himself as to use a weapon against a Nubian, he 
would be sure to be sacrificed, as the whole 
country would rise against him, and escape would 
be impossible*. A pistol went off twice by acci- 
dent in the boat during these unpleasant disputes, 
but fortunately did no harm ; and Captain Irby 

* This part of the country has, however, been since garrisoned 
and taken possession of by Mahommed Ali. 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 97 

had his hand much cut in wresting a dagger from 
Hassan, who, while foaming with rage, was in 
the act of stabbing Mr. Belzoni. It is not a 
year ago since a Russian was murdered a little 
above Derry; he was in company with another 
who escaped to Assuan ; they were unfortunately 
unarmed. Our reis and one of the sailors quitted 
the boat in consequence of our last quarrel. 

Wednesday, August 6. Started at dawn on our 
voyage ; about seven the reis returned ; he now 
wanted to land the statues and leave them behind ; 
this we told him he should not do, and advised 
him to beware what tricks he played us, as we 
would bring him to an account at Assuan, where, 
at least, there is some sort of government. Our 
young mameluke joined us this morning, having 
been robbed of his money and the reed-raft 
which he had purchased. About noon we in- 
spected the small temple at Offidena; which has 
been left in so unfinished a state, that it is difficult 
to make much out of it. All that is at present 
to be seen is a small peristyle hall, with fourteen 
pillars ; but neither the columns, their capitals, 
or the sides of the hall are finished. The Greek 
christians had made a chapel of this temple. 
There are, on the walls of a fragment of some 
detached building, three figures, evidently not 
Egyptian ; they are in intaglio, and are either 

H 



9$ TRAVELS IN [LETTER t. 

of ancient Greek or Roman workmanship ; they 
appear to be an Egyptian, and a Grecian priest 
and priestess. In the same tablet is a figure 
representing Isis, and Horus presenting her an 
offering. The people came and crowded round 
us here, asking for backsheeish ; as they did it 
in a very impertinent manner, we did not give 
them any till we had explained to them that a 
more quiet mode of begging would have got 
them more money. We endeavoured here to pur- 
chase a statue, the same that we had attempted 
to buy on going up; but after being detained 
about two hours, we were obliged to give it up. 
In the evening we visited the temple at Dekki ; 
the exterior and part of the interior of this 
temple have not been finished, but the basso- 
relievo in the interior, bears every mark of having 
been executed by a skilful artist; only one 
chamber, however, has been completed with 
stucco and painting. The whole building is on 
a small scale, but the plan is very neat; it is 
approached by a pylon, beyond which is a por- 
tico of two columns in front; within this are 
three small but distinct chambers ; the centre 
one is narrow, with a smaller apartment on each 
side ; one of which has steps whereby to ascend 
to the top of the temple. The whole building 
is of a narrower width than the pylon, and a wall 



LETTEtt I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 99 

from the exterior of the latter surrounded it. 
The entrance of the pylon is covered with Greek 
inscriptions ; amongst which, several commemorate 
the homage paid to the god Mercury, by Greek 
and Roman visitors, the latter under the reign of 
Tiberius Cagsar. This temple, like some others 
in Nubia, has been subsequently used as a Greek 
chapel, as appears by their daubed paintings ; 
other ruins, perhaps of a smaller town, are scat- 
tered about near the temple. 

Thursday, August 7- Started at dawn, and 
soon visited the temple of Garbe Girshe; the 
natives here have a very bad character. Last 
year they murdered a soldier of the pashaws, 
and not having been punished for it, are now 
remarkably insolent. Seeing us all armed, 
and not being numerous themselves, they asked 
for the backsheeish in a quiet manner, and we 
gave them some. This temple is principally an 
excavation in the rock, but has been fronted by 
a built portico or peristyle hall; four terms on 
each side, and two pillars- in front, in a muti- 
lated state, remain to it; but there have been 
many more of the latter ; and probably a flight 
of steps preceded by an avenue of sphinxes (a 
lion's body with a woman's head), as appears by 
fragments remaining, was an approach to it. 
The excavated chambers have a black and dismal 



100 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

appearance, and the interior ones have become 
the habitation of bats. The plan is not dissimilar 
to that of the great temple at Ebsambal, but 
much smaller, and the sculpture is unusually bad 
and heavy. The first chamber is nineteen paces 
by eighteen, and supported by six terms, three 
on each side of the centre, with alto-relievo figures 
of Osiris in an erect posture ; but instead of the 
arms being across the breast, with the scourge in 
one hand and hook in the other, as at Ebsambal, 
both the insignia are here in the right hand, which 
is uplifted, while the left hand hangs down; 
these latter are executed in a most heavy and 
unsightly manner. On either side of this chamber 
are four niches, in each of which are four alto- 
relievo figures ; the second chamber is smaller, 
supported by two pilasters, one on each side 
of the centre ; beyond this is the sanctuary which 
is small ; the altar remains in it, and four sitting 
statues at the further end ; there is a small 
chamber on each side of the sanctuary, and side 
apartments leading from the second chamber. 

Towards sun-set we inspected the temple of 
Garbe Dendour : this is a small edifice which has 
never been finished. It is built with a small 
portico of two columus in front, and two small 
chambers within it. The sanctuary at the back 
is an excavation in the rock, before which the 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 101 

temple is built: it is very small and unfinished. 
Before the building is a portal and a square space 
walled in, probably intended as a quay to protect 
the edifice from the river near which it stands 
— Garbe Merie. We passed this place without 
stopping, there being nothing but a broken wall, 
with hieroglyphics, which has been part of a 
temple. 

In the evening we landed at Kalapsche and 
went up to see the temple. Here we found 
all the natives assembled, and armed with their 
daggers to dispute the entrance; we asked the 
reason of their being assembled in such numbers, 
and what they wanted: they said they must be paid 
before we entered the temple: we asked the 
speaker if he meant that he was to be paid him- 
self, or who it was that we were to give money 
to? they all cried out, that we must pay every 
one of them. Now as there were about sixty of 
them, and many others arriving, we thought this 
a bad speculation, and were, therefore, proceeding 
to explain to them that it was not any great 
object for us to see the temple a second time, 
since we had already inspected it; and that if they 
chose to let us enter, we would give them a 
reasonable present when we came out, otherwise 
that it was immaterial to us whether we saw it 
or not, and that we would go without seeing it. 



102 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I, 

While we were settling this, our janissary picked 
a quarrel with the natives, by abusing them all, 
calling them thieves, and saying, we would enter 
the temple by force: in consequence they all 
rushed on him with their drawn daggers, and 
had nearly wrenched his musket from him, when 
we thought it high time to fly to his rescue, and 
after much struggling we succeeded in restoring 
him his arms. We were now glad to get to the 
boat, being well hooted as we went down; and 
on shoving off, they pelted us with stones; we 
fired a musket over their heads, to shew them 
that we had ammunition though we did not choose 
to use it unless there was real occasion. Our 
Greek servant now told us that while we were 
up, one villain had entered the boat with a drawn 
sword, and was proceeding to plunder, when per- 
ceiving it was time to be serious, a loaded gun 
was^ pointed at his head, with a threat to lay him 
dead on the spot unless he desisted; this timely 
firmness caused him to quit the bark: — the 
crew all the while not interfering or saying a 
word. We commended the Greek for his pre- 
sence of mind, but had not so much reason to be 
satisfied with the janissary, whose unseasonable 
rashness alone prevented our seeing the temple; 
this was more provoking, as further up the river 
such a fit of valour might occasionally have been 
of use. 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 103 

It is a great inconvenience to a traveller in 
this country, that both servants and interpreters 
always think themselves wiser than their masters ; 
and therefore when desired to say or do any thing, 
always act according to the dictates of their own 
judgment, never letting their employer's wishes 
have the least influence with them. When inter- 
preting they never tell you half what is said, and 
frequently when you explain something which 
you are anxious should be interpreted, they an- 
swer yes, yes, I know it ; never thinking of telling 
the other party, but taking it for granted you 
are speaking for their information, not for the pur- 
pose of their explaining your words to others. 
This evening we repassed the gates of Nubia. 
As the Nile was now high, and the river here 
much contracted by the approach of the moun- 
tains on both sides, the rocks jutting down perpen- 
dicularly into the water, our crew made a great 
merit of taking the boat through the rapids, with 
the hope of obtaining backsheeish; but, though 
noticing all that was going forward, we took 
care, by an assumed carelessness, to make them 
think that we were regardless of the whole pro- 
ceeding, and thus we escaped an additional tax. 

This evening the current drove us past the two 
small temples of Teffa. Mr. Belzoni, who has 
seen them, describes them as follows: — only one 



104 TRAVELS IN [LETTER L 

of these edifices is finished ; it is dedicated to Isis, 
and is about twenty feet square ; at present it is 
all dirty, being used as a cow-house (not a bad 
application for a temple of Isis, to whom the cow 
was peculiary sacred). The other, which is si- 
tuated near the former (both being on the western 
bank of the river and near the water's edge), has 
never been completed; its dimensions are similar 
to those of that first described. 

Just before dark we went to visit Hindaw; the 
ruins in this quarter are very extensive, but 
nothing can be distinctly made out as to the 
meaning of the buildings, which, whatever they 
may have been intended for, have never been 
finished. Beginning from the southward, the 
first object is a great square, situated on a bed 
of rock surrounded by an unfinished wall, built of 
immense blocks of calcarious stone. On the north 
side, in the middle, there is a portal similar to 
those by which the Egyptian temples are gene- 
rally approached; the top of the door-way is or- 
namented with the winged globe, and a figure 
of Isis, in basso-relievo appears half finished on 
the side of it. It is not improbable that this 
wall (which encloses a space about half a mile 
each way) may have been intended to surround 
several temples; the space it occupies being too 
great to suppose that only one was intended to 



LETTER l.J EGYPT AND NUBIA. 105 

be constructed there. Further north is an ex- 
tensive quarry, from which we may conclude 
the stone was drawn for the building of these 
edifices. Within this quarry we perceived a 
door-way carved in the Egyptian style; and on 
each side is a convexity, as if it had been intended 
to carve out pillars. There is also a niche, with 
a bust of Roman execution, on each side, and 
forty-two very perfect Greek inscriptions, written 
in the time of the Romans, to commemorate the 
visits of various generals, and other persons of 
distinction who had come here to pay their vows. 
Mr. Bankes copied all these : to the northward of 
the quarry, on an eminence, is a small unfinished 
portico, of two pillars on each side, and two in 
front; the capitals are highly executed: the former 
combine the lotus flower with the vine, date, and 
doura grain; the latter have a quadruple head 
of Isis. 

Friday, August 8. At noon we inspected the 
temple at Daboude ; it is situated about two 
hundred yards from the river side, and is alto- 
gether unfinished. The approach is by three 
portals, after which comes the temple, consisting 
of a portico, composed of four columns in front, 
and a wall of intercolumniation reaching half 
way up the pillars. Within this there are two 
chambers and a sanctuary ; the latter contains 



106 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

two handsome monolithe cages of red granite, 
between six and seven feet high, and about four 
broad ; these are the only objects of interest 
which the temple contains. Towards the river 
side, on the banks, are the remains of a quay. 
This day the murderer quitted the bark, not 
daring to shew himself near Philag ; he did not 
appear ashamed of the crime which he had com- 
mitted. 

In the evening our crew stopped at their 
village, and brought a scabby half-starved lamb 
as a present to us ; we could not forbear from 
laughing, as it was really the most pitiful animal 
we had seen in the country ; and in truth it must 
have put them to no small trouble to find such a 
beast. We refused the present most stoutly, but 
it was all in vain ; they forced it into the boat. 
At three, arrived at Philae, called by Hamilton 
and Burkhardt, Giesiret El Berbe El Ghassir, or 
Giesiret Anas el Wodjoud, the first of these 
names means the Island of ruined Temples : not 
an inapt denomination. Philae is the eastern- 
most of a group of islands and rocks which 
compose the first cataract. It is about half a 
mile long, rather high, and being wholly covered 
with magnificent ruins, has a grand and imposing 
appearance ; the lofty pylons are seen at a great 
distance, and produce a fine effect. The island 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 107 

divides the Nile into two streams, and the river, 
finding so great an impediment in its course, 
rushes by with considerable velocity. The prin- 
cipal edifices are approached by an avenue formed 
on each side by a gallery supported by columns, 
the capitals of all which are different with respect 
to each other. There are thirty of these pillars 
on the left, and on the right only sixteen, with 
cells (probably the habitation of the priests) 
within them; the greater part of these last- 
mentioned columns are finished, but there are 
some incomplete. These shew that the columns 
were first constructed and erected in the rough, 
and that the sculpture was finished after the 
erection of the column. The rough outlines 
which we found traced, were very curious; and, 
neatly as all the capitals are sculptured, the 
finishing artist had but a rough and coarse pat- 
tern to point out to him the style of architecture 
he was to pursue. The difference of the two 
galleries, in number of columns, is occasioned by 
a small temple having been situated at each end of 
that on the right ; these temples are now entirely 
ruined. At the end of the avenue is a large 
pylon, formed by two moles ; the entrance in 
the centre has had two lions, and two small 
obelisks of red granite, ornamented with hiero- 
glyphics, before it. It is on the pedestal of one of 



108 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

these latter that Mr. Bankes discovered the Greek 
inscription; and it is on the door-way of this 
pylon, that the inscription announcing that this 
island was the termination of the French con- 
quests in Egypt, and consequently of their travels 
on the Nile, is written ; a copy of it, verbatim, may 
possibly be amusing. 

" Republique Fran£ oise, An. 6, Le 13 Mes- 
" sidor, Une Armde Francoise command^ par 
" Bonaparte est decendu a Alexandrie, L'Armee 
" ay ant mis vingt jours apres les Mamlouks en 
" fuit aux Pyramids, Dessaix commandant la 
" premiere Division, les a poursuivis au dela 
"jusque au Cataracts, ou il est Arrive le 13 
** Ventose, 3 Mars. Les Generaux de Brigade." 
" Here follow the names. 

* An. 7 de la Republique, de Jes. Cr. 1799" 

It was in the portico, as you approach this 
temple, that we noticed the elephant as an 
hieroglyphic ; this is the only instance of our 
finding this symbol in the country. The above- 
mentioned portico leads through the left end of 
the great pylon, after which there is a handsome 
court or hall, and then you enter the temple. 

We here first noticed a singular imperfection 
or peculiarity in the sculpture of the large figure 
of Isis in the great pylon — she has two left hands ; 
we have since observed the same singularity in 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 109 

other places ; the French work has copied some 
of them. In all parts of the island, on the sides 
of the temples, are Greek inscriptions, comme- 
morating the worship of Greek and Roman 
generals who have come to pay their vows to Tsis 
and Serapis. Philae is said to have been the spot 
where Isis was appeased of her wrath for the 
violence offered by Typhon to her husband ; and 
hence we find so many temples dedicated to her 
in so small a compass, there being no less than 
four. 

Before I quit Nubia, a few observations on the 
country and its inhabitants may not be unac- 
ceptable. At present only two English travellers 
have been in this country. Mr. Hamilton, 
Colonel Leake, and Captain Hayes visited 
Debode, but were prevented from advancing 
further by the united efforts of the cashiefs and 
the mameluke bey, Elfi. Mr. Hamilton's book con- 
tains the result of these gentlemens' mission into 
Upper Egypt. The French had penetrated only 
as far as Philse, where they left the inscription be- 
fore mentioned. Several years elapsed before any 
European travellers entered Nubia, when Burk- 
hardt led the way, which was followed by Mr. 
Legh and Mr. Bankes :— the former has published. 
Immediately after passing the first cataract, the 
traveller observes the Mockatem and Lybian chain 



1 10 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

of mountains to close much on the Nile : this re- 
mark is applicable, with few exceptions, throughout 
Nubia, at least as far as we went ; there is conse- 
quently only a narrow strip of cultivated land on 
either bank of the river. The ancients, to preserve 
the soil and prevent the rapid course of the river 
from washing away the land, constructed im- 
mense walls, or, more properly speaking, piers, 
built of huge masses of stone piled one on the 
other, and reaching into the river from the foot of 
the mountain, or rather the limit of the Nile's 
rising, to the point of the water's lowest ebb. 
These piers are invariably built at right angles 
with the stream, and are generally about fifteen 
feet wide. As they are very numerous, and as 
the labour and expense of their construction must 
have been prodigious, some idea may thence be 
formed of the importance that was attached to 
them. From the number of temples, and from 
the fine plains of loamy soil, now generally 
covered with a surface of sand, a foot thick, 
which makes them look like the rest of the desert, 
there is every reason to suppose that this country 
was once both populous and flourishing ; at the 
time of the height of Egyptian power it was 
considered as an integral part of the state ; this 
is evident from the figures and devices in the 
temples having every resemblance to those of 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 1 1 1 

Egypt. Of the land of Nubia which might be 
cultivated, I do not suppose one fourth is made 
use of; this indifference in agricultural pursuits 
proceeds from the despotic system of the govern- 
ment, where the governing authorities think of 
nothing but making the most of their situations 
whilst they hold them ; consequently their sole 
aim is to get money, no matter how it is pro- 
cured. A licentious soldiery are ever ready to 
contribute to the oppression of the inhabitants, 
more especially when the fund from whence they 
derive their own pay and emoluments are drawn 
from this source ;, this observation applies to 
Egypt as well as to Nubia, only that it is more 
easily perceived in the latter country. The con- 
sequence is, that the date palm, the fruit of which 
ripens without any human aid, and which pays no 
duty, is here more encouraged than any other 
production; and dates may safely be called the 
staple of the country. The doura, which is the 
holcus arundinaceus of Linnaeus, is the only grain 
to be met with ; it makes very good bread, 
but they grow barely sufficient for their own 
subsistence ; indeed, it is so prized, that they 
frequently preferred it to money in payment for 
the articles we purchased. The miri or land-tax 
is paid at the rate of ten dollars per sackey, 
consequently every sackey which the Nubians 



1 1 2 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

build becomes an additional inducement to the 
Turks to come into their country; and it is only 
the scantiness of the produce which keeps the 
pashaw from quartering his troops on them ; this 
the crafty natives are well aware of, and take 
care to put no temptation in the way. The 
present mode of collecting the miri in Nubia, is 
by sending thither annually about two hundred 
Turkish soldiers in boats, and the money they 
get hardly defrays the expenses of the expedition. 
The duty is not paid in cash, but in doura, 
which they purchase back from the Turks ; but 
they generally contrive that the soldiers do not 
return very full-handed. The Turks usually 
make Derry their head-quarters, and remain 
about six weeks in the country, during which 
time the cashiefs retire into the mountains, and 
the natives conceal their arms, which are always 
taken from them whenever they are found. I 
shall here observe, that in several parts of Nubia 
we noticed the sites of ancient towns, indicated, 
as in Egypt, by mounds of rubbish. 

I shall now add a few remarks on the natives, 
as we resided longer in the country, and had more 
dealings with them than any other Europeans have 
ever had. The Nubians are a very distinct race 
of people from the Arabs ; their dress is com- 
monly a loose white shirt and a turban ; some- 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. ] ] 3 

times they are uncovered, except a cloth round 
the waist They are very superstitious, most of 
them wearing charms to keep off " the evil eye/' 
or some other apprehended ills. These charms 
consist of some words written on a scrap of paper, 
and sowed up in leather ; they are worn mostly 
on the right arm over the elbow, and sometimes 
round the neck. All the cashiefs we saw had 
them, and one Nubian dandy had nine of 
these appendages. These people think them- 
selves very cunning in schemes to deceive stran- 
gers. Few of them smoke ; instead of which they 
use salt and tobacco mixed, enveloped in wool, 
and kept between the under lip and gum ; the 
boys commence this practice when quite young. 
They are all rogues, but being bred up in such 
principles, do not think there is any harm in 
being so; the opprobrious terms, harame, cadab, 
(thief — liar) are not considered abusive with them, 
as they have no notion of honesty, and cannot pos- 
sibly keep from pilfering any thing within their 
reach ; we detected our sailors at this work almost 
daily, but they always made a joke of it. The 
several districts differ much in regard to dress, and 
particularly in the manner of wearing the hair, 
some have it curled, " a, la Brutus," others plaited 
and hanging down with great uniformity,, in ring- 
lets, to the shoulders, where it is cut off square at 

i 



1 14 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

the bottom, and looks exactly like a mop. The 
latter grease their locks plentifully with oil; the 
former have generally a skewer sticking in their 
hair in readiness to disturb any animalcule which 
may bite too hard. There is great difference in the 
features and make of the several Nubian tribes : 
the natives of Elpha are tall and good looking ; 
the people of Derry are hideous and deformed ; 
the tribe at Armada are small, but handsome, 
and well made ; they are frugal in their mode of 
living, subsisting principally on doura, made into 
flat cakes, and baked on a stone, which is heated, 
and some sour milk and dates. It is usual to see a 
courier, or man, going on a few day's journey 
with no other provision than a small bag of dates ; 
they eat the offal of all the beasts they kill, not 
rejecting any part ; and when we were at the 
village to which the crew belonged, the women 
came down eagerly to dispute for some fowls, 
which having died, were thrown on shore. They 
are great boasters, but do not appear to have any 
firmness ; and they have a great aversion to fire- 
arms. They evince much outward show of 
religion, praying four or five times a day ; and to 
shew their piety, they leave the sand on their fore- 
heads, which sticks there while they are perform- 
ing their devotions. They are respectful to their 
cashiefs, to whom are referred all their quarrels 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. ] \5 

and disputes. They are invariably armed, and 
appear very proud of their weapons ; they mostly 
carry a dagger on the left arm, a long pike and a 
sword slung across the back. The boys, when young, 
have weapons provided them; this they imagine 
shews their independence, and they acknowledge 
no government. They are exceedingly passionate 
with each other, but are soon reconciled, even 
after the most inveterate abuse; they adhere to_ 
gether, and no bribes can separate them; we 
never saw an instance in which we had any of 
them on our side, or when any thing was revealed 
to us. Ear-rings are common amongst the men ; 
they usually have but one, and it is immaterial in 
which ear it is worn. They eat the locusts grilled* 
and affirm that they are good. They are consi- 
derably darker than the Arabs. The only manu- 
facture they have has been pointed out to them 
by necessity, and consists of neat close-grained 
platters, made of the date-tree, to contain their 
milk and food. No earthenware is made in the 
country ; their water-jars are brought from 
Egypt. 

The women do not cover their faces so scrupu- 
lously as the Arabs; they are not ill-looking, are 
generally well made, and have good figures. They 
wear a brown garment reaching down to the an- 
kles ; it is thrown over the right shoulder, comes 



1 1 6 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

close under the left arm, the shoulder of which is 
bare, and has not an ungraceful appearance ; they 
are very partial to rings and bracelets ; the former 
are frequently worn at the nose, the latter are made 
of one piece of brown glass, which not yielding, and 
being forced on as small as possible, often causes 
much pain ; they always go bare-footed. Young 
girls have a covering round their loins made of 
strips of leather, hanging down and ornamented 
with cowry-shells and beads. The hair of the 
women is plaited somewhat like the men's, and 
greased with oil. The Barabras, from their frugal 
mode of life, are subject to few diseases ; they are 
all marked with one, and sometimes two scars on 
the spine of the back, where they have been burnt 
for the cure of an endemial disease, which attacks 
them when young ; this mode of treatment, by 
drawing all the humours to one spot, keeps the 
discharge open till the patient is recovering, and 
experience has doubless shewn it to be often suc- 
cessful. A boy, while we were at Ebsambal, was 
in a state of cure, and accidentally injured the 
part which caused it to bleed ; the father imme- 
diately applied a remedy, by throwing some sand, 
of which article there is no scarcity in the country, 
on the wound ; this soon appeased the boy's cries 
and pain. 

Tuesday, August 12. After about four hour's 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 117 

disputing and bargaining with the crew, we per- 
suaded them to take us down the cataract in the 
boat,, on the condition of our paying fifty piastres, 
but they would not start unless we paid them 
every para of the money before hand. We tried 
to induce them to take half of the cash at first, 
and the other half on our arrival ; but no, they 
must have it all. It would have been the same 
to us whether we paid them before or after, but 
knowing their character, we were afraid that 
when they once got the money, they would turn 
our things out of the boat, and take themselves 
off, especially as there was a great crowd assembled 
who would have aided them in any of their 
pranks. We could not help laughing when we 
found that however unfavourable an opinion we 
had formed of them, they were equally suspicious 
of us. Having at length supplied them with that 
sovereign balm, " the fleece," they prepared to 
depart. A pilot and eight additional hands came 
on board to conduct us down; just before putting 
off, Hassan sneaked off and disappeared, dread- 
ing the report we should make of him to the Aga. 
We were about two hours on our passage, which 
was amongst all the windings and turnings of the 
innumerable islands which form the rapids, for 
cataract there was none. The scenery was wild, 
barren, and romantic. Sometimes the bark was 



1 1 8 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I, 

carried away pretty sharply by trie stream, and 
occasionally, when she was roughly handled in the 
vortex of the current, our sailors cried out, tyep, 
tyep, (good, good,) and asked us whether they 
were not bold fellows for undertaking what they 
had done ; at times they made such a violent noise, 
all speaking and bawling at once, that a person 
not used to Nubian manners would have thought 
they were all going to the bottom. The boat 
only struck once, but it gave her a prodigious 
shock, and made us fully sensible of the hardness 
of granite rocks ; the sailors immediately began 
to sound the well, expecting she was bilged, but 
she did not make much water, and we soon 
got off. At the commencement, while near 
Philae, we observed oyster-shells incrusted in the 
granite rocks, bordering on the river; some of 
them were very perfect and large. We reached 
Assuan (the ancient Syene) in the evening ; Mr. 
Ruppell, a German traveller who was at Thebes 
with us, discovered on one of the uninhabited 
barren islands, which compose the fall, a fine 
tablet of red granite, with a perfect Greek in- 
scription on it, highly interesting. As we have 
been on terms of intimacy with him, he has given 
us a copy, which I enclose to you. The stone 
Mr. R. takes with him to Frankfort, to be pre- 
sented to the museum of that town. 



LETTER, if) EGYPT AND NUBIA. 1 19 

On our arrival at Assuan, we proceeded to 
visit the ancient granite quarries in the neigh- 
bourhood : our principal object was, to examine 
the column which is there, and which has an in- 
scription in Latin, not devoid of interest. Our 
guide lost his way at first, and took us to another 
part of the quarry where we found an immense 
granite basin, seventeen feet long, by seven wide, 
and three deep. It is hewn out in the rough, 
and is narrower at the bottom than the top ; we 
were at a loss to imagine for what purpose such 
an immense basin could be intended, unless it 
was for a bath. The whole of this quarry was 
highly interesting ; here we had an opportunity 
of noticing the manner in which the ancients 
used to cut the prodigious masses which one 
meets with throughout Egypt. It appears, that 
when they wanted to detach a mass, they cut 
niches in a right line throughout the piece they 
intended removing : these niches were about two 
feet apart, five or six inches long, and about three 
deep, by two and a half broad. As soon as they 
were finished, the block was separated by some 
violent blow or concussion. We met in all di- 
rections specimens of the progress of their work ; 
some masses were but half detached, others wholly 
separated ; here we saw an obelisk in the rough, 
and there a column, the whole was an interesting 



120 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

scene. The ancient road, regularly paved with 
granite, is still plainly to be seen, though the sand 
covers a great part ; in the vacancies between the 
hills are causeways, some of considerable length, 
to connect the elevated parts one with the other, 
and thus keep a communication open with the 
several quarries, all these roads leading to two 
principal ones which conduct to Assuan. We 
now searched for the column with the inscription, 
and at last found it. The pillar is small, not 
being more than ten feet in length, by about three 
feet diameter ; the inscription is tolerably perfect; 
an Arab, acquainted with Mr. Belzoni, told him of 
it, and it was seen for the first time by a traveller 
last year. As Mr. B. had copied the writing, we 
did not think it worth while to copy it. Its pur- 
port is as follows : — "To Jupiter Ammon, Kneephis 
" Bona (the Good Spirit), and to Juno the Queen, 
" under whose protection is this mountain, in 
" which were discovered nine quarries near Philae, 
" during the happy age of the Roman Empire, 
" under the most pious Emperors Severus and 

" Caracala, and and Julia Domna his 

" august mother ; and a vast number of statues, 
" and large columns, were taken out of these 
" quarries by Aquila, prefect of Egypt. " Cur a 
«. Magens Opera," which Mr. Salt interprets, un- 
" der his directions, Aurelius Helogabalus or- 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. I f J 

" dered this stone to be erected in the calends 
" of March." The vacant space before Julia 
Domna the mother, is where the name of " Geta," 
the other brother, was erased ; Caracala having 
murdered him, ordered his name to be blotted 
out of every inscription where it was inserted. 
Mr. Salt tells us, that there is one instance of this 
at Rome, and he has met another on an inscription, 
discovered at the late excavation of the sphinx. I 
should like to have sent the original Latin to you, 
but as it was not to be got, I must be content 
with what I have. You will observe the inscription 
says, that the Romans discovered the nine quar- 
ries, not that they made them. One must 
therefore infer that they were first worked by 
the Egyptians; and as they were so numerous, 
and of such magnitude, they must have been of 
great consequence, and doubtless are of the most 
remote antiquity. I confess I was much per- 
plexed to think how the Egyptians could have 
cut, hollowed out, and polished, such immense 
blocks of the hardest stone without the use of 
iron, a metal which they are said to have been 
wholly ignorant of; the niches, therefore, which 
I mentioned above, if not with iron, must have 
been cut with brass. We examined the construc- 
tion of numerous mummy cases, and boxes con- 
taining the sacred emblems of the Egyptians; 



122 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

they were invariably fastened with wooden pegs, 
no nail of any description being visible. Some 
of the cases were of beautiful workmanship. 
Mr. Ruppell has two legs of a chair elegantly 
worked in the similitude of a lion's feet and 
paws ; these specimens of cabinet-making bespeak 
great taste and judgment, and it is difficult to 
conceive that they were made with brass. The 
negroes in the South Sea, at this day, certainly 
cut hard woods shaped as clubs, and ornament 
them in the most exquisite style; but I doubt 
much if they could make cases and boxes with 
their flints also. 

I cannot quit Syene without noticing that it is 
the place where Juvenal was banished by the 
Emperor Domitian; being sent there with the 
title of " Governour of the Frontier of Egypt:" 
he returned at eighty years of age. Assuan has 
nothing to interest the traveller; an immense 
heap of rubbish lies behind the town, which is 
a dirty, ill-built place. 

Wednesday, August 13. This morning the 
Aga came to pay us a visit: he was asleep all 
yesterday, for as the ramadan prevents them 
from eating and drinking during the day, the 
great people invert the order of things by sleep- 
ing during that time, and sitting up and feasting 
all night. We complained to him of the treat- 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 123 

ment we had experienced from our crew; he told 
us that they were a notorious set of rascals; that 
rib one would employ their boat, their character 
being so bad, that people were afraid to trust 
their goods in their hands. Our friends had not 
waited to be catechised for their conduct, but 
took themselves off the day before, after having 
made great efforts to persuade us to give them 
some more backsheeish. We visited Elephantina 
so glowingly described byDenon. It certainly had 
a pleasing, flourishing appearance, the north end 
being richly covered with fine crops of doura: 
there are a few palm-trees. The south end of 
the island is high, and here are situated the 
ruins of the ancient town, together with the 
temples, only one of which, dedicated to the 
serpent Kneephis, is in any degree perfect; it is 
small, with an anti-chamber and sanctuary. There 
are the remains of several others, so mutilated, 
that nothing can be made out. A high quay 
leads directly down into the Nile at the S. E. end. 
At eleven o'clock we started on our return, having 
hired a boat to take us to Thebes for one hundred 
and twenty piastres. 

Thursday, August 14. Inspected Koum Ombo, 
the ancient Ombos. Here are the remains of 
two temples situated on a promontory of the 
Nile's eastern shore; the large one, dedicated to 



124 TRAVELS IN [LETTER L 

the crocodile (as appears by the principal offer- 
ings being presented to a deity having the head 
of that animal) is situated at a short distance 
from the river, which it fronts. The smaller one, 
to Isis, is close to the river side, and not far 
distant from the other, to the S. W. of which 
there is a building which appears to be part of an 
unfinished pylon, and which is close to the river 
side. There is a whimsical irregularity in this 
latter edifice which should not be passed unno- 
ticed; the base is built of small blocks of stone, 
which gradually increase in size till you come 
to the top, where are the largest masses of 
all. The large temple consists of a portico of 
five columns in front, in three rows, though 
one at each of the outer angles is fallen. The 
cornice, only two parts of which are perfect, is 
ornamented with four winged globes. The frieze 
consists of a double border of hieroglyphics, 
rather large. The columns are of great dimen- 
sions, and have various capitals surmounted by a 
plinth. There are two entrances, one on each 
side of the centre pillars, occasioned by the 
unusual circumstance of an odd number of 
columns in front; these conduct to another 
ruined apartment, originally supported by ten 
pillars in two rows of five each; beyond these 
are three other apartments; the communication 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 125 

from the one to the other is by two large doors, 
one on either side, instead of a centre one 
which most Egyptian temples have. The cornice 
of the entrance, on the left, from the second to 
the third apartment, has an inscription in Greek, 
which mentions that it was written by direction of 
Ptolemy and Cleopatra, and that the temple was 
dedicated to Apollo, &c. The decorations of 
this edifice, in basso-relievo, are highly finished, 
and in a good style ; amongst the figures here, we 
noticed the lion with the hawk's head, similar to 
the statues we found at Ebsambal, a union we 
had not before noticed. The small temple of 
Isis points to the south ; it consists of a small por- 
tico of four columns, surmounted by the usual 
quadruple head of the deity, with the passage in 
the centre, and beyond the portico are two cham- 
bers and a sanctuary; but all the western side of 
the temple has fallen over into the river, and with 
it the chief part of the flooring of the chambers, 
together with a large plain altar of black basalt, 
which has evidently come from the sanctuary. 
The want of hieroglyphical inscriptions on this 
altar is probably the only cause why travellers 
have not removed it. The ornamental parts of 
this temple are in no way inferior to those of the 
larger edifice ; we did not, however, notice any re- 
presentations that we had not before seen. The 



126 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I, 

country in the neighbourhood of Koum Ombo 
presents to the north and east nothing but the 
prospect of a barren, sandy desert; there is a 
small portion of land to the S. E. cultivated. 
Opposite to the temple, in the middle of the 
Nile, is the large island of Mansouria, which is 
highly cultivated, and a smaller island to the 
south, the soil of which is also good. Exclusive 
of the temples, the promontory of Koum Ombo 
has several Saracenic ruins of both baked and sun- 
burnt brick ; and the ruins of the ancient town 
are discernible by the rubbish of the former 
material. The view, as above described, is, on 
account of the elevation of the position, an exten- 
sive one. 

Djibel Selsilis. The meaning of this term 
implies " mountains of the chain." The name 
has been given from a tradition that a chain was 
here drawn across the river, to prevent the ir- 
ruption by water of any hostile parties from 
above. The principal objects of interest, are 
several small temples hollowed out of the rock, 
which is of calcarious stone. The northernmost 
consists of a portico and sanctuary, with three 
recesses in the latter, containing statues in alto- 
relievo ; the walls have been stuccoed and painted, 
but at present all is so much disfigured that 
little or nothing can be distinctly made out. 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 127 

To the southward are two more small temples* 
each consisting of one single niche or hollow 
in the rock ; both their fronts have two hand- 
some columns, together with a cornice and 
frieze, executed with considerable taste ; the 
colouring having the remains of great richness. 
Numerous other niches with statues, &c. are 
interspersed near this spot. The quarries here 
are very extensive, and one large detached mass 
of stone, of considerable height, would seem to 
be the spot where the chain which secured the 
river was fastened. On the opposite side the 
quarries are also numerous ; the vicinity of the 
Nile to this place, so favourable for embarking 
and transporting the stone, was no doubt the 
principal inducement to the Egyptians to esta- 
blish so extensive a quarry here. 

Friday, August 15. Reached Edfoo, the 
ancient 66 Appolinoplis Magna." It is situated in a 
fertile plain, at a short distance from the western 
bank of the Nile. The antiquities consist of a 
large temple, the plan of which appears to be the 
most magnificent of any in Egypt; though in 
point of perfection it must yield to Tentyra and 
some few others. It consists of a prodigious 
high pylon, the exterior wall of which is sculp- 
tured with a large figure on each side, sacrificing 
a number of human victims ; and above these are 



128 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

two rows of figures presenting offerings to Osiris 
and Isis. The inside of the pylon is decorated with 
similar oblations ; the cornice is imperfect as far as 
the torus, or astragal moulding, which at present 
forms the summit of the pylon. Within is a 
large and magnificent peristyle court, forming an 
oblong square, with a covered gallery supported 
by columns on each side ; beyond this is the 
portico of the temple, presenting a front of six 
pillars, which continue for three rows, making 
eighteen in all ; those in front have had a wall of 
intercolumniation reaching up half their height. 
We thought these pillars appeared to be of very 
large dimensions, but on measuring them found the 
upper part of the shaft to be six feet four inches 
in diameter, while those at Carnack are eleven 
feet six inches at the base of the column. This 
portico is filled with rubbish upwards of two- 
thirds of the way up to the roof. The frieze 
in front of the portico is ornamented with a 
row of standing figures of monkeys, in basso-re- 
lievo, and the architraves within have rows of 
figures of Isis sitting on a chair. The chambers of 
the temple are inaccessible, the rubbish which fills 
the portico blocking up the door. The whole of 
the large, peristyle court, and the top of the 
portico, and other parts of the temple, are 
covered with the mud-built huts of the modern 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 129 

town of Edfoo. The temple is surrounded by a 
thick wall, about eight feet in diameter, which 
is continued in a line from the outer part of 
the gallery of the peristyle, leaving a passage 
between the sides of the temple and the wall. 
The exterior of the edifice, and both sides of the 
wall, are ornamented with offerings and hiero- 
glyphics ; we remarked nothing novel in the 
symbolic representations of this temple, excep- 
ting the horse, an animal we had not before 
seen in this character. The ruins of the ancient 
Appolinopolis Magna are high, but not extensive. 
The paltry modern town of Edfoo presents a 
striking contrast to the magnificence of the 
ancient buildings ; from the top of the lofty 
pylon, the huts at its foot, and the peristyle court, 
are scarcely discernible as human dwellings. You 
here enjoy a fine view of an extensive fertile 
plain and the river. There is a smaller temple to 
the S. W. of the great one, which is nearly buried. 
Before I quit Edfoo, I must mention a most 
interesting discovery that was made a few weeks 
ago ; a Frenchman, named Cailliaud, who under- 
stands mineralogy, has lately been employed by 
the pashaw to examine the Mockatem and Lybian 
chain in search of coal mines. His last trip was 
to inspect the ancient emerald mines, which are 
south of Cossur, at five hours' journey from the 

K 



1 30 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

Red Sea; on his way from the point opposite 
to Edfoo, where he quitted the Nile, he crossed a 
road at two days' journey from that place, which 
appears to be the ancient Egyptian road from 
Koptos to Berenice. He also found there the 
ruins of a temple ; the road is paved with granite, 
and in some places is cut or hollowed out of that 
material. Interesting tablets, with hieroglyphic 
characters and inscriptions, are met with, but as 
he was on his journey, he had no time to examine 
this interesting spot. We have seen some of the 
specimens from the emerald mine which Mr. C. 
has brought with him. Our friend Ruppell, who is 
a good mineralogist, and who has made a valuable 
collection, tells us that these specimens are com- 
posed of black mica ; it is of a softish, scaly sub- 
stance, and may easily be separated into laminae. 
The emeralds which we saw were very small, and 
ran in narrow strata through the other substance. 

This evening, August 1.5, we stopped at El 
Cab, the ancient Eleethias. These ruins are 
situated on the eastern bank of the Nile, not far 
from the river. The city has been inclosed by a 
wall of sun-burnt brick, thirty-seven feet thick ; 
the place inclosed may be a mile square. Within 
the great wall is another inclosure surrounding 
the ruins of a small temple, and other buildings 
much dilapidated and consequently uninteresting. 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 131 

At the back of the ruins, in the side of the 
Mockatem, are several sepulchral grottos, two of 
which are well worthy of notice ; the one is 
remarkable for a highly finished tablet of hiero- 
glyphics, in intaglio ; the other is a very inte- 
resting chamber ; and as some of the groups have 
the merit of great originality, and at the same 
time are executed with good taste, we have given 
rather a minute description of the leading parts. 
On the left, as you enter, the first object of 
interest, is a man writing on a tablet, which he 
holds on his left arm ; fronting him are various 
men driving asses, cattle, pigs, goats, &c. near 
to these are several hillocks of corn, and people 
in the act of reaping and sheafing, with glean- 
ers, &c. following behind them. After this are 
three distinct rows of agricultural proceed- 
ings ; the upper one begins with two men bearing 
on their shoulders, by means of a long pole, 
as brewers carry a cask, a sort of net basket 
shaped thus ||| , filled with wheat in the ear ; 
next to them are two other men, one bringing 
on his shoulder an empty basket, while his 
companion carries the pole ; next is a man in an 
inclosed space, treading the corn with six head 
of cattle, their mode of thrashing. Behind these 
are four people winnowing the grain, by holding 
it up over their heads, and pouring it down for 



132 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

the wind to blow through it ; near the last-men- 
tioned is a man seated on the top of a high hillock 
of grain,, and writing down an account of the quan- 
tity ; afterwards are four men piling it. This 
group now terminates by two men depositing the 
corn in a square inclosure, which was doubtless the 
granary. The next group is a ploughing scene ; 
there are two ploughs, each drawn by two oxen ; 
a man walks opposite the animals, sowing grain as 
they advance ; this he takes from a basket sus- 
pended from the yoke across the horns of the 
beasts. Behind him is a person driving a wheel 
harrow ; the ploughs are preceded by four men, 
using a sort of pick-axe in the shape of the Greek 
letter alpha ; this was probably to break the clods 
of earth ; further on are four men working another 
plough. Below this scene is a pair of scales ; at one 
end is a man writing an account, while another is 
weighing some small articles shaped thus (^). 
and which we think may be the shape of their 
loaves, as bread is made sometimes in that form at 
this day in Egypt ; four of these are in one scale, 
and many others on the shelves at the side of the 
wall ; the weight in the other scale, is in the form 
of a cow couchant. Next to this are persons car- 
rying the weighed articles into a boat, by means 
of a gang-board, and near to this boat are three 
others already laden, with men poling them. The 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 133 

cargo is placed in a square magazine, built in the 
centre of the boat, not unlike the cabin of the 
Thamesis ; below is a boat under sail ; the sail 
is square, with a yard at the head and foot ; it is 
trimmed by means of a wheel, which is attached 
to the foot-yard, acting the part of a roller, and 
working on a pivot on the top of the square 
magazine or cabin, which is near half the height 
of the mast. There is a door and window to the 
cabin, and seven men are rowing on each side : 
the helms-man steers with an oar. The next 
group represents fishermen drawing their net, with 
two men carrying the fish away in baskets ; and 
another splitting them and hanging them up to 
dry. Beneath this is another party catching geese 
with a net; after which are others employed 
plucking and trussing them, while one man is 
putting them in jars. Above are men plucking 
grapes, while two others are carrying them away 
in baskets ; six others are pressing them, and 
others filling jars with the wine. Among nume- 
rous other groups of figures, we noticed a female, 
standing, and playing a harp with ten strings ; 
the instrument is rudely shaped, and badly 
finished. Another plays on a wind-instrument 
not unlike a clarionet, with this difference, that 
the end is not shaped like a trumpet's mouth, but 
plain. As we had met most of tile other groups 



134 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

in this chamber in other places, and have noticed 
them in former letters, we contented ourselves 
with this short account. We now visited a small 
temple situated in the plain, at a short distance 
to the N.W. The serpent Kneephis is said, by 
the French, to have been worshipped in this 
temple, though we could not observe any allusion 
to a serpent more than what is seen in every 
other temple ; it consists of a single chamber sur- 
rounded by a gallery of square pillars. 

Saturday, August 16. Reached Esneh, situated 
on the scite of the ancient Latopolis. In the centre 
of the town, near the market-place, is a magni- 
ficent Egyptian temple, the whole of which is 
however completely buried, and modern houses 
built over it, except the portico or anti-chamber ; 
this is supported by twenty-four columns, in four 
rows of six each ; the outer row in front having a 
semi-wall of intercolumniation like that at Tentyra. 
The sculpture, in basso-relievo, of this temple is 
executed in an indifferent style ; the signs of 
the zodiac are represented on both ends of the 
cieling, but they are much inferior to those of 
Tentyra. The chief beauty of this portico consists 
in the elegant proportions of the shafts of the 
columns. The capitals, all of which are different, 
are well executed ; they combine the representa- 
tions of the fruit and leaves of the date, vine, 



LETTER I.J EGYPT AND NUBIA. 1 35 

lotus, &c. &c. Three miles north of Esneh there 
is a small temple in rains, supposed to be situ- 
ated on the scite of the ancient Aphroditopolis, 
and on the opposite side of the river there is 
another on the scite of Contra Latopolis. We 
visited neither of these two, as they were both 
reported unworthy the trouble, and time was 
growing precious. We had stopped at Erment, the 
ancient Hermontis, on our passage up the Nile 
in May, but as I did not describe any thing above 
Thebes in my letter from Philae, I bring it in here 
in its place. From the state of the ruins it 
would appear that the city was extensive and 
compact : the ruins of four temples are visible, 
but only one at present possesses remains in any 
state fit to indicate what they have once been ; 
this has but seven columns standing, each of 
which has a capital of different architecture from 
the other, the whole being composed of repre- 
sentations of the palm-leaf in various forms. 
There are two sanctuaries in the temple, both 
ornamented with various symbolic representations, 
in basso-relievo, stuccoed and painted. As we 
here noticed some groups which we had not 
hitherto observed in any other temple, we have 
selected some of the most singular as specimens, 
In the larger sanctuary are sixteen hippopotami, in 
two processions, walking upright ; a l)ippopotamus 



1 36 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

presenting an offering to Horus, who is sitting on 
the lotus flower ; various crocodiles, with hawks' 
heads, on square cases, either altars or sarcophagi. 
Two rows of three monkeys, and two of four 
cats ; a human figure, with the Ibis's head, pre- 
senting offerings to a cat ; a man bearing a globe 
on his shoulders ; an oblong-square case orna- 
mented with flowers all over ; on the top appears 
twelve human heads, in four groups of three each, 
and below it are their feet with sandals ; these 
last are probably men carrying a sarcophagus. 
A small human figure (Horus), with a hawk's 
head, riding between the horns of a cow (Isis), 
and facing Horus, who in this instance is also 
sitting on the lotus flower. In the inner sanc- 
tuary are two cows, with a child sucking each, 
the animals with their heads turned round and 
looking at the infants — probably Isis and her son 
Horus. On the cieling are two rams (Aries) with 
wings — a taurus and a scorpio ; twelve figures 
in three rows of four each, with a circular head 
ornament, and a star in the centre, probably have 
some allusion to the signs of the zodiac. All the 
ornaments of these two sanctuaries are highly 
finished. Near the temple^ on the east side, are the 
ruins of an ancient basin, in the centre of which 
Denon mentions, on the authority of Aris tides, 
there was a Nilometer, but the column on which 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. ] 37 

it was graduated, is not visible now ; the remains 
of a flight of steps are still discernible from the 
basin up to the temple. 

Sunday, August 1 7. Early this morning arrived 
at Luxor, part of the ancient Thebes, and took 
up our quarters in one of the temples; having 
settled every thing and established our house, 
&c. we devoted the day to a careful re-ex- 
amination of both Luxor and Carnack. At the 
former place we carefully inspected the war 
scenery on the exterior of the great pylon, but 
did not discover any thing novel to cause further 
observations. We also took particular notice of 
the magnificent obelisks, and clearly made out 
that from eight to ten of the upper hieroglyphics, 
with the exception of their being vertically instead 
of horizontally written, were the same as the first 
characters of the frieze at Ebsambal, and the 
same also as the upper hieroglyphics in what are 
termed Cleopatra's Needles at Alexandria. We 
now went to Carnack and walked leisurely over 
all the ruins, inspecting all the paintings, sculp- 
ture, &c. but found nothing here to add to our 
former observations. 

Monday, August 18. We devoted this day to 
visiting the tombs of Gourna, and as Messrs. 
Beechey and Belzoni had been employed for 
months, by Mr. Salt, in digging and making ex- 



138 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

cavations in various directions among the rub- 
bish of the ancient Thebes, and particularly at 
Gourna amongst the tombs, they were of course 
the best guides we could possibly have ; it was a 
gratifying reflection to think that after they 
should have shewn us the lions, we should leave 
nothing behind us unseen, at least as far as has 
yet been discovered in this most interesting of 
all places. It is customary with the natives to 
deceive travellers, and tell them that they have seen 
all, before they have inspected half ; and it was 
precisely this trick they played on us. I must 
give you some reason for this disposition towards 
misleading strangers : it may well be imagined that 
the population of so immense and magnificent 
a city as Thebes, the P. city of one hundred gates,'* 
as Homer styles it, was prodigiously great; now, 
as the Egyptian practice of embalming was 
always prevalent amongst them, it is not to be 
wondered at, that the bowels of the earth near 
Gourna should contain an immense number of 
mummies. The natives have not been unmindful 
of the eagerness with which travellers inquire 
after papyri, . and other objects of antiquity; 
these papyri are generally found under the arms 
or between the legs of the mummies, and the 
demand for them of late has been so great, in 
consequence of an opposition between the French 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 1 39 

party, employed by Mr. Drovetti, and the 
English, employed by Mr. Salt, that they now 
sell for thirty, forty, and fifty piastres each; 
whereas, formerly, you could get them for about 
eight or ten. About a dozen of the leading 
characters of Gourna, or rather the greatest 
rogues, have constantly headed their comrades, 
and formed themselves into two distinct digging 
parties, or resurrection men, designating them- 
selves the French and the English party ; these 
people are constantly occupied in searching for 
new tombs, stripping the mummies, and dis- 
covering antiquities. The directors have about 
three-fourths of the money, and the rest is given 
to the inferior labourers. They dread lest stran- 
gers should see these tombs, which to them are 
so many mines of wealth, and should commence 
digging speculations of their own — hence the 
care of the Gourna people in concealing them. 
It would be endless to describe to you all the 
intrigues which are carried on by the opposite 
parties to augment their collection; or the 
presents given to the Defterdar Bey, the Agas, 
and the Cashiefs, to attach them to either party. 
Lately Mr. Drovetti obtained an order from the 
Defterdar Bey, that the natives should neither 
sell nor work for the English party, and a cashief 
was most severely bastinadoed by the bey's orders, 



140 travels in [letter I. 

and in his presence at Gourna, for assisting the 
English. At present, things are on a better 
footing. Mr. Drovetti is not an amatuer, but 
collects to sell; he offered his museum to Mr. 
Salt, on his arrival, for seven thousand pounds, 
which he states as his price, but which most 
persons seem to think he will never get. He 
is now in Upper Egypt, and is gone in search 
of a temple and Egyptian road which has been 
reported to have been seen by the jelabs, at one 
day's journey, in the desert, from Madfuni, the 
ancient Abydus, described in a former letter. 

To return to my narrative : the tombs of 
Gourna are situated in a valley to the S. W. of 
the Memnonium. Those which we first inspected 
are considered the best, and consist of two square 
courts cut in a bed of calcarious stone. There 
are excavations on three sides of the square, and 
the fourth, or south side, is that by which they 
are entered. The principal excavations are on the 
north side ; these are very extensive, and we 
were at a loss which most to admire, the beauty 
of the sculpture on the walls, or the grandeur 
and extent of the excavations. The former is cut 
on the smooth stone, which is very close-grained, 
resembling the finest chalk, but without cracks or 
flaws, and rather harder ; the colour is of so pure 
a white, and admits of so fine a polish, that stucco 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 141 

has been quite unnecessary. There is a harmony 
throughout the decorations of these tombs that we 
have no where else noticed ; the sculpture, in intag- 
lio, will bear the minutest inspection. The plan of 
the excavation, extensive as it is, is extremely singu- 
lar, sometimes abruptly turning either to the right 
or left without any apparent cause. At the further 
end there is a fine quadrangular court filled up 
in the centre with the solid rock; you here meet 
with some very rich groups ; and there are innu- 
merable remains of fine statues, in alto-relievo, 
leaning against the wall in all directions ; we 
could not, however, distinguish one that was 
perfect. The art and precision with which the 
decorations of these sepulchres are finished, ex- 
hibiting an endless variety of symbolic represen- 
tations, in the most elaborate and highly finished 
style, is truly astonishing; in some places the 
roofs are arched, in others they are flat; here you 
meet with a deep well in a corner ; shortly after 
you descend by a flight of steps. Some of the hiero- 
glyphics are painted blue on a pale red ground ; 
blue is very common, the colour of the stone itself 
serving occasionally for a fine white field. Amongst 
the figures, in basso-relievo, there were many quite 
perfect, and so minutely cut, that the eye-brows 
and ears, the hair, nose, lips, and the hands and 
nails, would bear the closest inspection ; in short, 



142 TRAVELS IN [LETTER* I. 

throughout the whole of this mausoleum, the 
work of a most skilful artist is observable. I 
think I may safely say the examination of the 
principal tomb occupied us two hours. 

We now went to see the mummy pits : it is 
impossible to conceive a more singular and 
astonishing sight than a tomb of this description. 
Imagine a cave of considerable magnitude filled 
up with heaps of dead bodies in all directions, and 
in the most whimsical attitudes ; some with ex- 
tended arms, others holding out a right hand, 
and apparently in the attitude of addressing, you ; 
some prostrate, others with their heels sticking 
up in the air ; at every step you thrust your 
foot through a body or crush a head. Most of the 
bodies are enveloped with linen, coated with gum, 
&c. for their better preservation. Some of the 
linen is of a texture remarkably fine, far surpassing 
what is made in Egypt at this day, and proving 
that their manufactures must have arrived at a 
great degree of excellence. Many of the bodies, 
probably of the lower orders, are simply dried, 
without any envelopment. Innumerable frag- 
ments of small idols are scattered about; they 
are mostly human figures of Osiris, about two 
inches long, with the hook and scourge in either 
hand; some are of stone, some of baked earthen- 
ware, and others of blue pottery. Excepting so 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 143 

odd and extraordinary an exhibition, few of the 
common tombs, which were most likely for the 
poorer class of natives, are worth seeing, as none 
of them are ornamented in any way whatever ; the 
bodies are stowed in compact masses, tier on tier, 
always crossing each other. In some instances 
we found the hair quite perfect. It was in a tomb 
of this description that some of the diggers found 
a beautiful net-work, composed of long blue beads, 
hollow, with threads passed through them; the 
parts of the net hanging down over the shoulders, 
and all emanating from a scarabseus Thebaicus, 
which was on the crown of the head ; it was 
found on the head of a female mummy. 

At the commencement of this year the diggers 
also found two remarkably fine Egyptian vases 
of brass, covered with hieroglyphics; they are 
nearly two feet high, and are the most valuable 
remains of antiquity which have been discovered 
for some years, being quite perfect. Mr. B. was 
fortunate enough to get them, for Mr. Salt, for 
one hundred and seventy piastres — <£4. 5s. 

We now went to inspect a newly discovered 
tomb, that well recompensed us for our trouble. 
Having crawled in through a small hole barely 
sufficient for the body to be squeezed in, we 
entered a small sepulchral anti-chamber adjoining 
to a tomb filled with mummies. From the 



144 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

finished style of the decorations of this chamber, 
we concluded that it must have been the tomb of 
some noble family ; the paintings are all in fresco, 
and so wonderfully well preserved, that not the 
least scratch or stain is visible; the pure white 
ground of the wall not being even tinged with 
yellow. Amongst the groups we noticed an 
interesting troop of six musicians, all females, 
uniformly dressed in white robes reaching down to 
their ankles ; over this, they have a sort of black, 
loose woollen net hanging over the shoulders, 
and reaching down to the waist. Their hair is 
jet black, plaited in ringlets, reaching down below 
from the outer part of the eye-lids all round the 
head, having at first sight the appearance of a 
veil. They are all walking in procession and 
playing at the same time : the leader has a harp 
with fourteen strings; then comes the guitar, 
which is not unlike the instrument of that de- 
scription which we use at this day; then a lute, 
which is a handsome instrument; after this 
comes another girl clapping her hands, ap- 
parently keeping time ; then another playing 
on a sort of double pipe: this instrument is 
played on like a clarionet, and is long and thin, 
both the tubes being of equal length: the proces- 
sion closes with a female beating on a tambarine, 
which is in this shape y ~\. The gestures of 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 145 

these musicians, with their uplifted eyes, would 
lead one to suppose they were playing some 
impassioned air. The preservation of this group 
is astonishing, the colours being perfectly fresh, 
and no part whatever in the least defaced. 
What would not the French have given for such 
a specimen to put in their splendid work? there 
is nothing throughout Egypt to be compared to 
it. There are also two male harpers in different 
parts of this apartment; both are squatted down, 
and playing on smaller instruments than that 
first described, having only nine strings each; 
one is playing alone, the other is accompanied 
by a guitar. These last-mentioned musicians are 
bare-headed, and have bare feet: they are ap- 
parently elderly men. There are many other 
groups here, but as they are like what we have 
before noticed in other sepulchres, we avoid 
entering into detail. The sacred bull (Apis) is 
here most magnificently ornamented, and is a 
handsomer animal than we have hitherto noticed. 
The cieling of the apartment is divided into four 
compartments, each of which is painted with a 
different device. ' Adjoining the chamber, by 
means of a small well at one end, is a tomb 
filled with mummies, amongst which are the 
fragments of a handsome mummy-case, richly 
painted and glazed. Some of the bodies are 

L 



146 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

covered with canvass, having a coat of plaster 
and then painted. We found some of the small 
ornaments of earthen ware, frequently called 
Nilometers, concealed in the envelope of the 
corpses. 

The valley of Gourna ends at the foot of the 
Lybian mountains, where their sides present a 
perpendicular precipice ; here are some interesting 
antiquities — a granite portal, discovered this year 
by digging; an arch, the only built one of 
Egyptian architecture to be seen in the country, 
and which, from its singular construction, I shall 
describe. It is well known that the Egyptians 
were ignorant of the regular mode of building 
an arch, and it is the knowledge of this circum- 
stance which helps us frequently, in this country, to 
distinguish the works of the Greeks and Romans 
from those of their predecessors. The Egyp- 
tians built their arches in this form [^r^^^^ ; 
the Romans thus ^^<\ . All the temples 
are roofed over with blocks of stone, frequently 
thirty feet long, but as this was the utmost 
extent, you consequently never meet a space 
between a row of columns wider than this. 
Their staircases, whether circular or straight, are 
built on the same principle as their arches, being 
merely firmly inserted in the side of the wall, 
the mason taking care to leave stone enough 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 147 

within, to prevent the risk of too great a weight 
without, injuring his work; each step is cut out 
of the solid stone. A painted chamber and a 
granite slab appear to be the other objects of 
interest near to this spot. It seems to have been 
a sepulchre, rather than a temple, and has been 
approached by two or more avenues. It was 
discovered by digging, at Mr. Salt's expence, this 
year; but the Defterdar Bey or governour of 
Upper Egypt, made them desist from their re- 
searches; there are the ruins of a small edifice 
below these other objects. 

We now proceeded to visit a small temple to 
Isis, which is situated to the N. W. of Medinet 
Aboo ; its position may be seen from Memno- 
nium, but being surrounded by a Saracenic wall 
of sun-burnt brick, nothing but one portal is 
visible in the distance. This constitutes the 
approach to the edifice, and you arrive at a 
small portico, the pillars having capitals of the 
head of Isis; there is, besides the portico, a 
cross anti-chamber,- a sanctuary, and two wings ; 
it is altogether a neat little temple. In the 
evening we returned to Luxor, having pre- 
viously examined the statues and temple at 
Memnonium. 

Tuesday, August 1 9. Early this morning 
crossed the water with our janissary to pay a 



148 TRAVELS IN '[LETTER L 

farewell visit to the Tombs of the Kings. One 
of the chief diggers accompanied us to show us 
two new tombs discovered by Mr. B. this year. 
We inspected them first, but found them quite 
unworthy of notice; they are situated in a small 
valley adjoining the great one. 'We now ex- 
plored the other tombs, but found nothing new 
to add to our former observations. In the small 
chamber where Bruce copied the harp he gave to 
Mr. Burney (for his History of Music), we saw 
that traveller's name scratched over the very 
harp, which we think strong presumptive evidence 
that he drew it himself, though he has been 
accused of drawing it afterwards from memory : 
he is erroneous in the number of strings which 
he has given to it: the instrument itself is not 
unlike the original, though the musician is very 
indifferently copied. This evening we found 
some scorpions which our guide took up in his 
hand with great indifference: we remarked that 
he took good care always to seize the reptiles by 
the tail. 

We returned by the way of Memnonium on 
foot, ascending to the top of the Lybian chain 
which on one side gave us a fine view of the 
valley and Tombs of the Kings, while on the 
other hand we looked down on the plain which 
contains the whole of the ancient Thebes, to- 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 149 

gether with the Nile^ to great advantage. As a 
specimen of Egyptian scenery, it was a splendid 
view. As we descended, we counted on one spot 
upwards of fifty mummy-pits, discernible by 
their mouths or entrances being open, on the 
sides of the hills, exclusive of an innumerable 
quantity of doors of grottos, sepulchral chambers, 
&e. &c. cut out of the sides of the mountains. 
We now returned to Luxor, and having seen 
every thing, we began to think of returning. I 
cannot quit Thebes, however, without a few 
observations; most travellers, when speaking of 
this ancient capital, make mention of the lines 
of Homer, wherein he alludes to Thebes in such 
glowing characters. I shall give you Pope's 
translation of the passage, and then add a few 
observations which occurred to me on the spot. 

" Not all proud Thebes' unrivalled walls contain, 
" The world's great Empress on th' Egyptian plain • 
" That spreads her conquests o'er a thousand states, 
" And poure her heroes through a hundred gates, 
" Two hundred horsemen, and two hundred cars, 
" From each wide portal issuing to the wars." 

In our researches throughout the whole of the 
Theban ruins we could not meet with any remains 
of either walls or gates, unless the term is applied 
to the pylons and other buildings which consti- 
tuted the approach to the sacred edifices. Now, 



150 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

if Thebes was a city which had a hundred gates, 
there must surely have been a wall on which to 
construct them; and it is not unreasonable to 
suppose that the walls of so extensive and mag- 
nificent a city would have been built with stone, 
or at least that the frames or portals of the gates 
would have been of that material ; still no vestige 
of either gate or wall is to be seen ; and if so 
many ruins of temples and their porticos remain 
to this day, why have we not one solitary gate, 
or even fragment of the wall left ? Under all 
these circumstances, I do not think it an impro- 
bable conjecture, that it was the numerous 
porticos, pylons, &c. of the Theban temples, that 
gave to her the boasted reputation of a hundred 
gates, more than any real outlets that ever 
existed to the city. That she vanquished and 
subdued many states, and that the people were 
proud of their warlike achievements, appears 
from the battles so frequently traced on the 
walls ; but we no where observed Egyptian 
horsemen, they being always of the enemy's 
party in the act of flight, and looking back with 
dismay on the conquering Egyptians, who are 
invariably in chariots. Much as has been found 
amongst the ruins of Thebes, I suspect there 
is still much more; and if the English party 
are not prevented from digging, it is probable 



LETTER I.] 



EGYPT AND NUBIA. 



151 



we shall be continually hearing of some new 
discoveries. 

Friday, August 2 J . We started early this morn- 
ing for Cairo, having bargained with the reis to 
take us down for thirty piastres — fifteen shillings. 
The boat was laden with lentiles for the pashaw. 
We got a few mats over-head for a shade, and 
found the cargo a good soft place whereon to 
put our beds ; the sailors, in the boat, offering to 
help us in our cooking operations, we found we 
did as well without as with a servant. 

Saturday, August 22* This morning we stopped 
at Tentyra, and, as our reis said he should not start 
for an hour, we determined to revisit the temple 
of Isis * ; we accordingly started on foot for that 

* The inscription on the listel of the cornice, in front of this 
temple, speaks of it as dedicated to Venus, which agrees with 
Strabo, who says, " The Tentirites worship Venus ; behind the 
temple of Venus is a sanctuary (tyfo) of Isis." The latter still 
exists ; it is a small temple without columns. It is curious 
that the French savans did not copy this inscription ; either 
they did not see it, or, stranger still, none of them knew Greek 
enough to be able to copy the letters, which are considerably 
broken and erased, it was first copied by Colonel Leake and 
Mr. Hamilton. It is not surprising that the French, having 
failed as to the inscription of Tentyra, should have omitted 
others more difficult, or that they should have occupied Alexandria 
for three years without having been able to decypher a single 
word of the inscription on the column of Diocletian . Colonel 
Leake was the first to discover the legibility of this inscription, 
by making out the words aaeeanapeias and eiiapxos AirrnTor. 



152 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

purpose, -but when we had got two-thirds of our 
way, we found the canal was rilled, and that we 
must either swim over it or return; as we were 
dressed in our Arab costume, the former alter- 
native was not difficult ; we therefore threw our 
clothes over and plunged in. We examined the 
temple, and did not forget the little chamber, in 
which we had before noticed the circular astro- 
nomical table on the cieling to be a monument of 
the same kind as the Isiac table which we had seen 
at Turin. It was in the cieling of the other half 
of this chamber that Mr. Ruppell discovered a 
complete lunar system, which had totally escaped 
Denon and all the other French savans. Mr. R. 
took an exact copy of this interesting tablet, 
clearly making it to contain twelve moons and a 
bit of another, which no doubt was meant for the 
odd five days, as the twelve make three hundred 
and sixty. As this throws an additional light on 
the Egyptian mode of calculating the year, it 
is a matter of no small interest, and reflects 
the more credit on Mr. Ruppell, as so many 
travellers have examined this chamber, and this 
circumstance never occurred to them. In the great 

The joint efforts of himself and Mr. Hamilton ; and Colonel 
Squires during- several days afterwards decyphered what can be 
seen of the remainder. See Classical Journal- 



LETTER I.] 



EGYPT AND NUBIA. 



153 



French work they have put down fourteen or 
fifteen moons, never having taken the trouble to 
count them. Having returned we continued our 
voyage. 

Tuesday, August 25. Stopped at Siout and 
went up to pay our respects to the hospitable 
doctor, Marouky — found him as friendly as ever ; 
— stopped two hours, and pushed on. 

Wednesday the 26th. Visited Mr. Brine, a 
grateful remembrance of whose kindness also 
induced us to call. We here took charge of the 
heads of two Egyptian mummy-cases, and other 
antiquities dug up for Mr Salt from a spot 
supposed to be the burial place of Hermopolis, 
near the Lybian chain. 

Thursday, August 27- Stopped at Houarti. As 
this was the village of our crew, we were obliged 
to reconcile our minds to stop for three days, 
while they made merry with their friends and 
relations. We had scarcely arrived here an hour, 
when our reis came to ask us to lend him the 
two mummy-cases which we had on board. He 
said he should like to have them up at the village 
for an hour ; we lent them immediately, not 
having any idea of his reason for borrowing them. 
On the following day, however, we found out, for 
numbers of women came down and requested 
them, when they alternately walked three times 



154 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

round them, crossing over them each time ; this 
we found was to procure them families. From 
this time the women were constantly arriving, 
young and old, and all going through the same 
ceremony ; they were all very serious during the 
performance of this mystery, and seemed to 
think it odd that we laughed so much. Our 
sailors informed us there were some antiquities 
at the foot of the Moekatem, about one hour and 
a half's distance ; they mentioned temples and 
catacombs ; we did not much believe them, but 
were glad of any excuse for a trip to pass away 
the time, and accordingly started with one of 
the reis's brothers for a guide. He took us to a 
very extensive and finely situated site of a city, 
which, from the state of the rubbish, must have ' 
been of some consequence ; its situation is at the 
mouth of a valley in the Moekatem, on an 
elevated spot, at the edge of the cultivated 
plains of which it commands a fine view. The 
modern village of Tehene is close to it. The ruins 
have been much dug up by the Arabs in search 
of antiquities. We only found one capital ap- 
proaching to the Corinthian order, most likely 
Roman. Immediately above the rubbish is a 
considerable range of catacombs and ancient 
temples hollowed out of the rock. One small 
temple of I sis is well worthy of notice, the de- 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 155 

corations, in basso-relievo, being finished in a 
good style. At about a quarter of an hour's 
walk along the side of the mountain, to the 
southward, we saw a large excavated space, and 
on the top a frieze with a Greek inscription, the 
letters of which are remarkably large. It is about 
three fathoms long, and its size (the letters being 
nearly one foot long) made us believe it must be 
generally known ; therefore we did not copy it. 
We clearly made out the word ptoaemaios; but 
thinking it common, did not notice it much. We 
have since found that no travellers notice the 
site, and the inscription is not known. We have 
therefore given the particulars to Mr. Salt. A 
very old map of Danville's, on a small scale, has 
the site of an ancient town, under the name of 
Cynopolis placed nearly in a parallel of latitude 
with this. We now sailed, and continuing our 
voyage, arrived at Cairo on the 31st August. 

Wednesday, September 1 . Our first care now 
was to shave our beards, which we had allowed to 
grow from our first departure from Philse, and re- 
sume our European costume ; we felt as awkward 
at first at this change of dress, as we did when we 
first assumed the Arab costume. Mr. Salt re- 
ceived us very civilly. We found that great 
discoveries had been made at the pyramids and 
sphinx during our absence ; and the first thing 



3o6 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

that drew our attention was Mr. Salt's elucidative 
plan of the pyramids, sphinx, and all their inte- 
resting environs. As the whole account of the 
proceedings is going home for publication, I shall 
only trouble you with a few particulars. On our 
arrival we found, at Mr. Salt's house, Colonel Strat- 
ton, of the Enniskillen dragoons, and Mr. Fuller : 
these two travellers had come from making the 
tour of Palestine, having lastly arrived by land 
from Yaffa and Gaza. They embarked at Con- 
stantinople, having first made the tour of Greece. 
As they had not yet been to the pyramids, we 
were glad to have an opportunity of accompanying 
them. 

Friday, September 4. We went early in the 
morning, and Mr. Salt having lent us a copy of 
his newly made plan, we regularly went over the 
whole neighbourhood, place after place, according 
to the plan ; we found there was nothing new for 
us to see, excepting a few of the upper steps fronting 
the sphinx. Unfortunately for us and all future 
travellers, they have filled up all the excavations of 
the sphinx, so that there is not so much to be seen 
now, as there was previous to our departure, 
the base having been perfectly cleared on one side, 
before we started for Upper Egypt. From the se- 
veral drawings and plans which we have seen, to- 
gether with the description we have heard, it appears 



LETTER I.J EGYPT AND NUBIA, 357 

that the indefatigable Captain Caviglia continued 
his operations till he had cleared all the breast of the 
animal; that he afterwards pursued his labours 
till he reached the paws, at fifty feet distance from 
the body; and here it was, between the two, that 
he discovered the small temple, views of which 
are given in this work. I imagine this small edifice 
was composed of three large, flat stones, like a 
similar shrine in the possession of Mr. Salt, and 
that the door was filled up by two smaller pieces 
of stone on each side of it ; these sides have some 
fine specimens of basso-relievo, and give a fine 
idea of what the sphinx originally was. A man 
is depicted as presenting an offering to it ; 
some inscriptions also are interesting, and one 
of Caracalla has the name of Geta, his brother, 
erased, as in the Latin inscription at Syene. 
The lions which were found, together with the 
tablets, in basso-relievo, have been sent home to 
the British Museum, were I hope you will see 
them. The great head of Memnon will please 
you, and when you contemplate its grandeur, 
recollect that Thebes has at present the remains 
of thirty-seven statues of equal dimensions ; many 
greater. Beyond the small temple is an altar. 
To describe the other parts, I must beg you to 
imagine yourself fronting the face of the sphinx, at 
a considerable distance, and nearly on a level with 



158 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

the lower part of the face, and also with the 
ground adjoining the animal. As you advance, 
you find at some distance from the paws, a 
flight of steps which lead some depth below 
the paws to the base of the temple. Mr. Salt 
is of opinion that this descent by steps was 
meant to impress the beholder (after having first 
viewed the sphinx at a distance on a level) with 
a more imposing idea of its grandeur, when he 
views the breast in its full magnitude from below. 
A wall of sun-burnt brick was on each side of the 
steps, to prevent the sand from filling up the 
space. Afterwards we went all over the great 
pyramid, again descending to the lower chamber, 
which Captain Caviglia discovered, and also rein- 
spected the well, &c. We could not shew them 
Colonel Davidson's chamber, as the Arabs had 
stolen the rope ladder which was left there. 
After having slept at the mouth of the great 
pyramid, we returned to Cairo; the excursion 
occupied us two days. When we were last at Cairo, 
a trip to the sphinx used to take two hours ; we 
were now five hours going there, the inundation 
of the Nile forcing us to go more than double 
the distance round the edge of the canals. We 
went in a cangia, or rowing boat, as the canal 
was quite full. As we are now about to leave 
Egypt, I shall add a few remarks before 1 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 159 

quit of the subject. In my last I said nothing 
about Cairo. All Turkish towns impress Europe- 
ans with very unfavourable ideas; the streets are 
invariably narrow, and the fronts of the houses 
look like so many barn doors. Cairo is particu- 
larly ill-built, and a stranger on arriving, after 
having heard so much of c( Grand Cairo/' can 
scarcely believe his own eye-sight when he finds 
himself in this miserable hole ; and this is the 
more striking, as at a short distance the lofty 
minarets give it a grand appearance. Miserable 
narrow streets, the square bow windows meeting 
over the head, and built with unpainted deal 
wood; no pavement to be seen; grates substi- 
tuted for panes of glass ; a dirty ill-dressed popu- 
lace, and women covered up like so many ghosts, 
may give you some idea of this metropolis. The 
various classes of inhabitants, such as Turks, 
Arabs, Copts, Jews, Franks, &c. have their re- 
spective quarters where they reside in detached 
societies ; each quarter has its gate and porter to 
attend it ; all are shut at eight o'clock in the 
evening ; after which time it is customary to fee 
the porter to get admittance. In case of revolutions, 
when the troops go about robbing and plundering 
all they meet with, these gates become of great 
service. The citadel of Cairo is built on a com- 
manding eminence ; here the pashaw resides : 



160 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

great merit is due to this man for the tran- 
quillity which exists at present throughout Egypt, 
and could such an atrocious crime as the murder 
of the mamelukes be over-looked, he might be 
considered as a great man ; this barbarous act 
was committed about six years ago : the un- 
suspecting victims, about two thousand in number, 
were invited to the castle to be present at the 
presentation of the Pelisse to the pashaw's son, 
Toussein, and his investiture with the command 
of Jidda, including the government of the sacred 
city of Mecca. During the ceremony, the walls 
and tops of the houses, the castle, &c. were lined 
with troops, and on a signal given, as the mame- 
lukes were returning, the soldiers opened their 
fire on them, and they were all shot to a man. 

Egypt at present presents a very different ap- 
pearance to what it did when we went upward ; 
the Nile having overflowed, all the villages are 
insulated, and being invariably surrounded with 
date palm-trees (which partly conceal the mud- 
huts) and give a pleasing and lively appearance to 
the face of the country. The river also, in some 
places, appears of prodigious width, whole plains 
being overflowed for many miles. We were pe- 
culiarly fortunate, having seen Egypt throughout, 
with the Nile at its lowest ebb, and also at its 
greatest elevation. There are no hedges in this 



LETTER I.J EGYPT AND NUBIA. l6l 

country, the division of land being exactly like 
that of the Pays Bas. There is no freehold pro- 
perty, all the land being let out by the pashaw, 
who afterwards forces the peasants to sell their 
property to him only, and at his price. Soldiers 
are quartered in all the principal villages to en- 
force a due observance of this law. All the boats 
are likewise monopolized by him, and at his price. 
Gun-boats are stationed at the narrow passes of 
the river, to prevent the passage of any barks 
unless laden for the pashaw. The Arabs, Copts, 
&c. who become rich in spite of this oppressive 
system, are allowed but little enjoyment of their 
wealth ; if any one of them has built a fine house, it 
often happens that he is desired to turn out, and 
give it up to some Greek, Turk, or perhaps to an 
European consul, and should he not immediately 
obey, his head is the forfeit. It is a curious 
fact, that no water-plants or weeds grow on the 
banks of the Nile ; a sedgy margin is never to 
be met with in this country. The lotus, affecting 
fens and marshy places, could only flourish dur- 
ing the most propitious part of the year, when 
the overflowing of the Nile promoted its growth : 
hence it was so favourite a plant with the an- 
cients ; and it is generally coupled with all sym- 
bolic allusions to the river. This year the Nile 
has risen seventeen pics, or thirty-four feet ; this 

M 



1 62 TRAVELS IN [LETTER I. 

is called a good Nile. Last year it rose eighteen 
pics, which produced a very plentiful crop. We 
went the other day to the island of Rhoda to see 
the Mekias, but the column of graduation was 
wholly covered by the water ; so that we might 
have spared ' ourselves the trouble. The island, 
however, now presents a complete carpet of ver- 
dure, with beautiful sycamore trees (ficus syca- 
morus of Linnaeus) and well recompensed us. 
There are no barns in Egypt : the peasant being 
sure of fair weather at harvest-home, the corn is 
immediately thrashed, and the grain is piled up 
in immense hills, encircled by a wall. The birds 
are freely allowed their share, though, during the 
time it is ripening, their claims are disputed by 
children, who are placed on elevated mud-hillocks, 
scattered in all directions throughout the plains ; 
here they bawl and fling stones by means of a 
sling, to deter the feathered robbers from their 
depredations. The other day we went to Bou- 
lack, situated on the banks of the Nile ; it is, pro- 
perly speaking, the port of Cairo, and the busy 
scene it presents at this time of the year, is not 
exceeded by any of our quays in Europe. The 
large dgerms, some of forty and fifty tons, make 
an immense profit during the overflowing of the 
Nile ; the stream brings them down with great 
rapidity, and the strong north breeze takes them 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 165 

up again with equal speed. It is said these boats 
sometimes clear half their original cost the first 
season ; a great part of the year, when the Nile 
is in its bed, they are laid up in ordinary, as their 
great draught of water prevents them navigating 
at that season. We thought it remarkable that 
we had never met, throughout Egypt, with the 
remains of any thing like a pavement to their 
cities, with the exception of Antinoe, where we 
clearly made out the streets paved in many 
places. 

Egypt begins to fill with English travellers : a 
few days ago Captain Bennet (dragoons) and Mr. 
Jolliffe arrived from making the tour of Palestine. 
The former is gone up as high as Assuan with 
Colonel Stratton and Mr. Fuller ; the latter is 
obliged to return immediately to England. We 
start in a few days for the tour of Syria. Sheikh 
Ibrahim who travels for the African Association, 
and who is mentioned in Mr. Legh's publication, 
has been of great assistance to us with his advice, in 
tracing out our route, &c. This he also did for 
both the travellers mentioned above. Mr. Salt is 
very kind and attentive to us ; we dine with him 
every day, and he has allowed us to copy his map 
of Syria. We intend to cross the desert on 
camels to Gaza ; to visit the whole sea-coast up 
to Latachia ; from thence to cross over the moun- 



164 TRAVELS IN [LETTER 1. 

tains by Antioch to Aleppo ; to go to Palmyra or 
Damascus according to circumstances, and from 
Damascus to Jerusalem, visiting in our way all the 
curiosities to be seen in the neighbourhood of our 
route. We calculate that the tour will occupy us 
till the middle of January, when we mean to em- 
bark at Alexandria for Smyrna and Constanti- 
nople. By the time we get off for Syria, (which 
will be in a few days) we shall have been fourteen 
months absent ; we have supplied ourselves with 
provisions, clothes, and arms, viz. two muskets and a 
brace of pistols, and have spent only one hun- 
dred and ninety pounds each, including our share 
of the boat-hire from Philse, up to the second 
cataract, and back to Thebes, and also of the ex- 
penses at Ebsambal, excepting the payment of 
the labourers and the presents to the cashiefs. Mr. 
Salt furnishes us with letters of introduction to 
Lady Hester Stanhope, Mr. Barker, the consul at 
Aleppo, and all the English agents in Syria. Lord 
and Lady Belmore arrived at Alexandria in their 
yacht on the eighth instant, and embarked for 
Cairo on the seventeenth ; we expect them daily. 

Before we leave Egypt, I should inform you 
that we discovered an interesting tomb, opposite 
to Mr. Brine's, at Radimore ; the sides were 
covered with paintings, amongst which are two 
groups, of a description very rarely, if ever to be 



LETTER I.] EGYPT AND NUBIA. 165 

met with; one of them represents the removal of 
a colossus between thirty and forty feet high, and 
seated on a chair ; upwards of a hundred la- 
bourers are employed. The other drawing re- 
presents an Egyptian garden, with exotics in 
flower-pots arranged on the terrace, near to 
which is an arbour, bee-hives, &c. &c. Mr. Bankes 
and Mr. Beechey are the only travellers who have 
visited this tomb since we discovered it : the for- 
mer has accurate drawings of all its contents. 



LETTER It 



TOUR IN EGYPT AND SYRIA. 

Departure from Cairo, through the Desert, to El Arish. 
Gaza.—Asdoud. — Jaffa. — Cesarea. — Tortura. — Ath- 
lite. — Mount Carmel. — Acre.—Tsour. — Saida. — Bay- 
ruth. — Gebail. — Tripoli, — -Cedars of Lebanon. — Baal- 
bee. — Tortosa. — Jebilee. — Latachia or Latakia. — 
Antioch. — Arrival at Aleppo. 

Aleppo, December 6, 1817. 

On the first of October, at eight A. M. we were 
without the walls of Cairo. We had made a 
bargain with an Arab for three camels to conduct 
us to Jaffa for thirty dollars. About eleven we 
passed on our left the obelisk of Mataria, the site 
of the ancient Heliopolis ; shortly after we passed 
close to the ruins of another ancient city on the 
skirts of the desert ; the only object of interest in 
them is a statue in a sitting posture, mutilated, 
but originally well executed. Our road was in the 
desert, but close to the cultivated plains, which 
extend no further from the Nile than where the 
soil can be benefitted by the overflowings of the 
river, either by natural or artificial means. This 
causes a sudden separation between the barren 



168 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

sand and irrigated land, having the appearance of 
a sea beach. In the evening we saw some gazelles 
on the right. We had left Cairo with only one 
camel and three asses ; the other two camels we 
were to meet at a village in the evening. We 
had enlisted in our service a Maltese interpreter 
who mounted the third ass, while the camel 
carried our baggage. Arriving in the evening 
at the village before mentioned, we parted with 
the asses, and at eleven at night set out again on 
the three camels, with their owner and his black 
slave. We heard the howling of wild beasts 
during the night, resembling the cries of human 
beings in distress. We suppose them to have been 
jack alls. 

October 2. This morning we remained se- 
veral hours at a village, where our conductor 
bought an ass: we were here joined by a camel 
laden; the owners object appeared to be to profit 
by our protection, seeing we were armed. As 
the Tarabeen Arabs of the desert through which 
we were to pass have the character of being 
notorious robbers, we were not sorry to see 
our number thus increased ; the stranger was 
bound to a village near Gaza. We passed, 
this day, occasionally through the skirts of the 
desert, as well as of the cultivated plains ; the 
latter are rich beyond description, with the 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. 171 

nose, a free negro, and six Muggrabins, one of 
whom was from Morocco, another from Algiers, 
and a third from Tunis, all bound on their pil- 
grimage to Mecca. By keeping with us they 
secured for themselves a supply of water of which 
we had a good stock. They had separated from the 
great caravan from Morocco, consisting of ten thou- 
sand camels, which we met on our last expedition 
to the pyramids, when we learnt that the two sons 
of the emperor of Morocco were among the 
pilgrims. This immense assemblage had been 
five months on their journey when we met 
them. 

October 4. We passed, on our left, the great 
lake, which is situated to the east of Damietta # 
We were obliged to cross several rivers and pools 
of salt water, sometimes up to the bellies of the 
camels, the arabs and asses swimming across. 
In the afternoon we passed, on our left, the ruins 
of Pelusium, but they were too far distant for us 
to visit them, and too many pools and lakes lay 
between. In the evening the desert became more 
hilly, with occasional clumps of palm-trees in 
the Tallies. In one of these we remained for the 
night, near a well of brackish water. We saw 
some gazelles during the course of the day. 

October 5. We had much the same country, 
the palm-trees, however, ceasing. We met many 



172 TRAVELS In [letter II. 

carcases and detached bones of camels and asses, 
who had probably dropped with thirst and 
fatigue; we also passed a few wells of indifferent 
water. This evening Mahomet, our camel driver, 
made bread ; he kneaded the dough in a leathern 
napkin ( 6 ), and mixing a good deal of salt with it, 
made a flat round cake about half an inch thick, 
and baked it on dried camel's dung ( 7 ) ; it was 
very good. We saw several gazelles near where 
we slept. 

October 6. In the morning we came near a 
bay on the sea coast. We passed, on the right, 
some Bedouins ; saw a very fine hare ; the sand 
became heavier, and the shrubs less plentiful ; 
laborious work for the camels; we, however, 
occasionally passed through some long damp 
plains between the sand-hills. We met a small 
caravan laden with tobacco ; the attendants were 
armed, having two pistols and some swords. 
They asked backsheeish of us in a very rude 
manner, but we refused to give it, and determined 
to make the best possible display of our fire- 
arms for the future. I have little doubt that these 
people use their arms to commit robberies when 
opportunity offers, as much as to protect them- 
selves; indeed their insolent demand on us goes 
much to prove it. We still find the road strewed 
with bleached carcases of camels and asses. 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. 173 

October 7. We passed over a plain of about four 
miles in length, covered with thick, hard salt, 
resembling in appearance sheets of firmly frozen 
snow ( 8 ); the surface bore the weight of our 
animals without giving way in the least. While 
we were resting at breakfast, a man came on 
horse-back, and talked to the camel driver a good 
deal, saying, he wished to know who we were^ 
that he was a guard, and had orders to stop all 
Europeans travelling without a soldier of the 
pashaw of Egypt. He also asked for backsheeish, 
but did not address himself to us; we kept our 
arms in sight, and he seeing we took no notice of 
him, shortly after retired. The road was now 
level, which relieved the poor animals a good 
deal, and we soon reached the sea beach. At 
three in the afternoon we arrived at El Arish. 
About an hour before we reached it, we stopped 
at some wells of fresh water, where we found a 
great assemblage of camels and many Tarabeen 
Arabs, who appeared to stop all passengers ; they 
entered into a violent dispute with our conductors, 
which we did not understand, but they took no no- 
tice of us. They presently levied a contribution on 
the other Arabs who accompanied us, and certainly 
we should have shared the same fate had it not 
been for the appearance of our arms, as the chief 
followed us all the way to El Arish, surveying 



] 74 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

our baggage with the mc t thievish inquisitive- 
ness ( 9 ). We were also passed by the man on 
horseback, who had visited us at breakfast, but 
observing that we kept our muskets in our hands, 
he said it was not against us that he meditated hos- 
tilities, and galloped on. At El Arish are some 
Roman ruins, as would appear by several marble 
columns we noticed; there is a very fine well of 
good water here. The village is situated on a 
slight eminence about half a mile from the sea, 
from which it is hidden by sand hills and clumps 
of palms. The principal part is inclosed within 
a high wall of considerable thickness, having loop- 
holes all round for musketry,, and a walk also; 
there is an octagon battery for cannon at each 
angle. Some ruined guns and old French ammu- 
nition boxes are all the warlike stores it contains. 
This place is remarkable for the treaty made 
between Sir Sidney Smith and the French army, 
for the evacuation of Egypt, which his superiors 
would not ratify. The land about El Arish 
is quite barren. 

October 8. Soon after midnight we left this 
place ; the morning was cold and foggy till sun- 
rise ; about an hour after, we stopped to breakfast. 
We begged our camel drivers to halt in a vale at 
some distance from the road, that our Tarabeen 
neighbours might not discover us. We had, 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. ] 75 

however, scarcely unladen the camels, when one 
of our yesterday's friends came, and seated himself 
in the midst of us. We could not help being 
surprised at this fellow's adherence to us, as we 
were now nine hours from the place where we 
had first met him, and had been travelling in the 
dark. We requested he would take himself 
off, as he could have no business with us ; 
he walked away apparently disappointed at not 
meeting some of his companions to assist him in 
plundering us. The desert was now much the same 
as at first, the shrubs increasing. In the forenoon 
we passed an extensive plain where there are 
wells of tolerable water, a sheikh's tomb, and a 
Mahomedan burial-place. In the afternoon we 
had occasional views of the sea. We this day 
passed many flocks of sheep and goats, peasants, 
and several laden camels. The attendants were 
usually armed, and eyed our baggage with a 
scrutinizing look, but the sight of the muskets has 
always had its effect on them. We saw this day 
some partridges, and numerous gerba, a sort of 
rat which runs like the kangaroo. About four we 
passed a temple of considerable magnitude ; two 
pillars of grey granite are standing, with several 
prostrate fragments, and a large wall constructed 
with antique remains. At sun-set we reached 
the village of Haneunis. It has a long square 



176 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

fortification inclosing a mosque. The approach to 
this place is picturesque ; it is seated in a valley, and 
its environs are prettily laid out with gardens, trees, 
&c. ; there is but little land turned to agricultural 
purposes. We remarked both the houses and in- 
habitants to be cleaner and handsomer than those 
in Egypt. There are many marble fragments of 
columns, &c. which mark the site of a town of 
Roman antiquity. As we have now reached the 
confines of Syria, and are beginning to enter an 
inhabited and cultivated country, a few remarks 
on the mode of travelling may not be uninterest- 
ing. We had often enquired about the cheer we 
were likely to meet with in crossing the desert, 
and were always told about hardships, such as 
want of water, the fatiguing pace of the camels, 
and the total privation of every accommodation. 
Bruce's narrative had also led us to expect very 
indifferent fare. With these unfavourable prog- 
nostics we were not a little surprised to find our 
journey a most pleasant one. The pace of the 
camels we found very agreeable ; the open air 
was the best place to sleep during the night, and 
even then it was rather too warm; and as for 
water and provision we took care to lay in a good 
stock of both, so that we fed remarkably well ; 
and indeed, if I except the heat, which about 
noon was more than is agreeable (the skin of our 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. ] 69 

finest crops of doura we had seen. The retiring 
floods have left the land inundated with great 
and handsome lakes, and the soil being saturated 
as it were, and receiving at the same time the 
heat of an ardent sun, produces a very rapid 
vegetation. We slept this night in . the de- 
sert, and on the following morning we halted at 
Selahieh, the last village on our road, which is 
situated on the borders of the cultivated plains of 
Egypt. We remained here a few hours to lay in 
a stock of water and provisions for the desert, 
which we entered by keeping more to the east- 
ward. On leaving the village, at two P. M. we 
were astonished at the picturesque appearance 
of the desert covered with wild shrubs; the 
occasional hill and dale, gives a pleasing variety 
to the scene, very different from what we had 
been accustomed to in Nubia, where the desert 
deserves that appellation in the strictest sense, 
being nothing but a barren expanse of sand and 
rock, totally destitute of every sign of verdure 
or vegetation. The difference I have alluded to 
is to be attributed to the nightly dews in this 
more northern climate, which, though sufficient 
to nourish dwarf shrubs, would not be capable of 
irrigating a sandy soil divested of water, and 
consequently of every other means of moisture* 
Wells of brackish water are occasionally met 



I/O TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

with,, which serve to sustain the numerous gazelles 
which we constantly see feeding in the distance. 
We frequently met with birds, and in some places 
the quail and partridge are seen in considerable 
numbers. We found that, although the camels are 
capable when grazing, and without work, of going 
five, six, and even seven days without drinking, 
it is necessary that, when travelling, they should 
drink at least every three days ; and our driver, 
whenever he met with water, even if they had 
drank the day before, never failed to let them 
drink again, which always appeared to refresh 
them much, for the heavy sand fatigues these ani- 
mals in a great degree, though they perspire but 
very little, which tends much to the retention of 
that moisture so necessary for their support ; they 
were constantly feeding as they went along, the 
length of their necks allowing them easily to do so. 
We could not but notice the provident bounty of na- 
ture in planting the desert with vegetables of a suc- 
culent and nutritious kind. It is undoubtedly to the 
want of verdure in the Nubian desert, as well as 
throughout the interior of that of Lybia, that we are 
to ascribe the difficulty of exploring those parts of 
Africa, as every camel there must have another to 
carry its provisions. Our road, or rather our track, 
was tolerably good. At Selahieh we had been 
joined by a man with asses, an Arab without a 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. 177 

noses being blistered off by it), I may safely say, I 
never made a more pleasant trip in my life. The 
pace of the camels is somewhat tedious, being 
little more than two miles an hour, or about the 
rate of Russel's waggon ; but this required only 
some of that patience which his waggoners must 
needs possess. Our camels, during this trip, were 
only once three days without drinking. 

October 9. At daylight we proceeded, the road 
leading through a barren country that resembled a 
heath. In two hours we came to the village of 
Esdier, prettily situated, with a view of the sea. 
There is here some land well cultivated and arti- 
ficially watered, with the sackey, as in Egypt ; 
the principal produce is tobacco. Beyond the 
village, here and there are beautiful sycamore- 
trees, similar to those in Egypt, in^ an uncul- 
tivated plain. We remained four hours under 
one of these trees for the purpose of drying all 
our things, which were wetted by the salt water 
on the fourth, unperceived till this day. While 
we were thus employed, a woman came hastily 
forth from the village, and seating herself on the 
ground, under a tree near us, bewailed most 
bitterly, throwing the sand over her head with 
frantic gesticulations which lasted about twenty 
minutes, when her husband, with whom we heard 
she had quarrelled came, and with difficulty drew 

N 



178 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

her off ( 10 ). There are some marble remains of an- 
tiquity at Esdier. Hereabout appears to be the si- 
tuation where the sea coast turns to the north. We 
thought we perceived a sensible change in the 
weather; the dews for some nights past had been 
very heavy; this morning the N.E. wind blew keenly, 
but the sky was fine and clear. From Esdier to 
Gaza, which latter place we reached at four P. M. 
are fine extensive plains prettily cultivated ; and 
the neighbourhood of Gaza itself is richly wooded 
with olives, sycamores, mulberries, cedars, fig- 
trees, &c. &c. the country is inclosed by hedges 
of prickly pears, the hills gently rising to the 
view beyond each other, and the whole has a 
beautiful appearance. Excepting the less perish- 
able materials, with which the houses are con- 
structed, stone being substituted for mud, the 
town partakes of the wretched appearance of 
those in Egypt. The rains in winter have 
forced the natives to roof their houses, whereas in 
Upper Egypt they only lay some canvass across 
to shade them from the sun, that being the only 
inconvenience they have to guard against. We 
remarked that the inhabitants here were cleaner 
and better looking, the women being dressed in 
a white or blue shirt, and a white shawl thrown 
loosely over the head, with which those who have 
no other veil, cover their faces occasionally. 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. 1 79 

Being tired, and having nine days beard, we did 
not visit the town ; we were further discouraged 
by our servant having been scoffed at on account 
of the difference of religion. The gates of Gaza, 
were carried away by Sampson at midnight to 
escape from the inhabitants ( n ) : this town was 
the frontier of the land of Canaan. — (See Gen. 
c. x.) 

October 10. At four A. M. we left Gaza, the 
road for two hours was through beautiful groves 
of olives. We then entered an open country, 
partly cultivated. We passed some villages on 
each side of us, and the dry torrent Escol over a 
bridge of two high arches. About noon we had 
on our left Majudal a large village with a mosque, 
situated in a valley, surrounded by groves of 
olives. At three in the afternoon we arrived at 
Asdoud, the site of the Roman Azotus ; near it is 
an antique building in the form of an open 
square, which we at first took to be Roman, but 
as the Turkish khans for the accommodation of 
caravans and travellers, are built much in the 
same manner, we are rather inclined to believe 
it to be a very ancient khan. I will give you a 
description of it, which will convey some idea of 
what these khans are. The inclosed court is 
entered by an arched passage, within which, on 
each side, are piazzas formed of five arches, two 



1 80 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

on each side of a larger one in the centre. On 
each side of the south entrance are chambers, 
on the right, steps to ascend to the top of the 
building. The chamber on the left has evidently 
been used as a primitive Christian chapel, as 
appears by an altar and a cross ; and there is 
an inscription in some Eastern language over 
the door. There are other arches in ruins, 
partly buried, closer to the village, and a marble 
fragment which would appear to have once form- 
ed the capital of a Corinthian column. The 
natives of this place flocked round us in numbers, 
looking at us with wonder and astonishment, as 
well as every thing belonging to us ; after we 
thought they had sufficiently surveyed us, we 
begged them to retire ; they shewed no incivility, 
but said they came to look at us, because it 
seldom happened that Europeans arrived near 
this village. Some women came also, with a sick 
young man, apparently in a consumption, asking 
medical advice ; we assured them we were not 
hackim (doctors), which they did not believe, and 
we luckily recollected that our Maltese inter- 
preter had some " balsam of Mecca," which the 
friars say is an antidote for all distempers ; we 
gave them some accordingly, which appeared to 
excite much gratitude. They, however, soon re- 
turned to beg some of our hair, saying that the 



LETTER II*] SYRIA. 181 

smoke of Christian hair burnt while the medicine 
was warming would ensure a cure of the disorder*. 
We could not help laughing at their superstition, 
but they continued to entreat us ; for my part I 
had little to spare,, and Irby did not seem inclined 
to give any of his. Seeing we were averse to 
this latter remedy, they at length retired and 
brought us some honey and bread by way of 
return ; this we offered to pay for, but they 
would not accept any thing. We had been ad- 
vised by Sheikh Ibrahim to go from Gaza to Jaffa, 
by the way of Ascalon, or Ashkelon, but our camel 
conductor could not be prevailed upon to go 
through that place, as it is not on the direct 
road, and he would be liable to a penalty if he 
deviated from the common rout of the camels ; 
a regulation intended, we suppose, to prevent 
smuggling, as Ascalon is on the sea coast. At 
Ascalon we should have seen part of a Roman 
amphitheatre, and some excavations made by 
Lady Hester Stanhope, in search of supposed 
treasure, which failed of success ; but what we 
saw at Azotus in some measure recompensed us. 
This we should have missed had we gone by 
Ascalon ; it was at Ashkelon that Sampson slew 



* Mungo Park, at Dingyee, was requested by a foulah to give 
him a lock of his hair to make a saphie. 



182 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

thirty men (Judges, xiv. v. 19). Asdoud is called 
Ashdod in the Old Testament (see Isaiah, xx. 
Jeremiah, xxv. ; Amos, i. ib. iii. ; Zechariah. xix. ; 
and Zephaniah, ii.). It is called Azotus in the Acts 
of the Apostles, and by the Romans. Palmyra, 
built by Solomon by the name of Tedmor, or 
Tadmor, is another instance, among many in Syria, 
of places having regained their original names. 
The Arabs in that neighbourhood know notliing 
of Palmyra, always calling it Tedmor. 

October 1 1 . Before daylight, we quitted 
Asdoud ; the country is open and little cultivated, 
though the soil is very rich, evincing a sad 
want of population. In the afternoon we passed 
some ruins, apparently Roman ; they appear to 
have been an aqueduct to convey water to the 
road side, which is to the eastward of the tract 
we traversed ; we passed also a well which our 
conductor told us contained poisonous water ; 
we also passed, on our right, Yabne, the ancient 
Jamnia, situated on a small eminence. About 
noon we crossed the nahr (or river) El Rubin, close 
to the ruins of a Roman bridge, one great arch of 
which, and a part of another, only remain, over- 
grown with bushes and weeds, which have a 
pretty effect ; and certainly to an amateur of the 
picturesque, the ruins of Syria must have a 
decided advantage over those of Egypt, where an 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. 183 

arid climate totally prevents the appearance of 
the least spot of verdure on a ruined fabric, be it 
ever so old. The traveller is, however, highly 
recompensed for this deficiency, by the compara- 
tively high state of preservation in which he finds 
the Egyptian monuments, notwithstanding their 
superior antiquity ; and I really believe that he 
who has once seen Egypt, will never feel equally 
interested in any other country. It is this feeling 
that has brought Mr. Bankes back to the Nile, 
after having explored Greece, Asia Minor, and 
the Archipelago, and he is now gone a second 
time to Thebes. The river El Rubin, above the 
bridge, is nearly dry, and filled with wild flowers 
and rushes. Below it there is a handsome wind- 
ing sheet of water, the banks of which are like- 
wise covered with various water-flowers, and 
many black water-fowl were swimming on its 
surface ; the water is bad, but not salt. On the 
opposite side of this river, on a small eminence, 
is Sheikh Rubin's tomb, surrounded by a 
square wall, with some trees inclosed. There 
are in Syria and Egypt numbers of these 
tombs, which the Arabs erect to the memory 
of any man who they think has led a holy 
life, for the title of sheikh is not only given 
to their chiefs, but also to their saints. These 
tombs are generally placed in some conspicuous 



1 84 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

spot, frequently on the top of some mount. The 
sepulchre consists of a small apartment with a 
cupola over it, white-washed externally ( 10 ) ; 
within are deposited a mat and ajar of water for 
the ablution of such as retire there for devotion. 
Sheikh Rubin, who lived many years since, appears 
to have been much respected, and the people to 
this day go to pay vows at his shrine ; they also 
bring provisions and make festivals there ; the 
river no doubt receives its appellation from this 
sheikh. Leaving the neighbourhood of the nahr 
El Rubin, we crossed the sand hills and came to 
the sea beach, four or five miles south of J affa, 
and continued coasting till we came to the back 
of the hill, on the opposite side of which stands 
the town ; here we crossed over between the 
most beautiful gardens filled with vines and figs, 
prickly pears, &c. though the soil is a deep sand. 
We arrived at Jaffa, the ancient Joppa, about 
five P. M. On our right we saw Ramla, the 
ancient Arimathea, and Loudd, the ancient 
Lydda ; the former is in the road to Jerusalem. 
There being no inns or khans in the sea-port 
towns, for the accommodation of travellers, we 
were obliged to repair to the English consuls. 
We found the British representative at the door 
of his house, and as he was a perfect original, I 
will give you some description of him. He was a 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. 1 85 

man apparently about sixty years of age, dressed 
in the Turkish mode, excepting an old brown 
cocked hat covered with grease, and put square 
on his head. His beard might be of some seven 
or eight day's growth, and his back was orna- 
mented with a plaited pig-tail reaching down to 
his middle. We found it difficult to refrain from 
laughing at the sight of so odd a figure, for his 
dress was all soiled with the drippings of soup 
and fat. He received us with a dignified reserve, 
and uttering several " favoriscas," shewed us into 
the apartment, which did the duties of the saloon. 
This room was filled with water-melons ; some 
old English pictures decorated the walls, and an 
old dirty sofa, without a covering, and well 
stocked with fleas, constituted the furniture ; 
numerous holes in the floor gave free access and 
egress to the rats. In the evening, when supper 
was announced, we were in hopes of something 
good, and as we had not tasted any thing but an 
early breakfast of dried fruit, we entered the room 
with the appetite which riding usually creates ; but 
j udge of our disappointment when we found nothing 
but rice and cabbage, our host observing it was 
" Giorno della Penitenza" (Saturday). We slept 
in the saloon, and got unmercifully bitten by the 
fleas. Next day we received some scraps of 
meat, but the old consul took care first to fill us 



186 TRAVELS IN [LETTER IL, 

so full of rice, that we could hardly find room for 
the better part of his feast. Jaffa, situated on the 
sea coast, is a small fortified town ; the fortifi- 
cations were in a very ruinous state, but the Aga 
was busily employed in repairing them. Vessels 
were arriving from the northward daily, with 
stones, &c. and he himself was in constant atten- 
dance on the operations. The Christian and 
Mahomedan inhabitants were obliged to take it 
day and day about, to work, at the sound of the 
drum, every morning at sun-rise. We saw the 
place where the French entered the town on 
their advance into Syria, and the hospital 
where Buonaparte poisoned his sick, on his 
retreat, to prevent them falling into the hands 
of the Turks. This place is now the Armenian 
convent, and one of the priests, who was in 
the town at the time, says there were only 
thirty-five men thus poisoned. About a mile 
without the town the French army was encamped, 
and it was here that Napoleon inhumanly mas- 
sacred the inhabitants in cool blood, after the 
town was fully in his possession. The number thus 
slain is uncertain, but many people now in Jaffa 
attest the truth of the assertion. Our camel-driver 
being bound to Jerusalem, we sent our heaviest 
and most useless baggage to that place by him, 
and endeavoured to purchase horses to continue 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. 187 

our route in Syria. We had great difficulty 
about this matter, and in consequence sent to 
request the Aga would lend us a soldier to assist 
us on the occasion, as old Damiani, the consul, 
was of more harm than good in the business. 
The Aga, however, very kindly and most posi- 
tively refused, saying, he would lend us govern- 
ment horses for nothing, as he had also done to 
Colonel Stratton; he added, that an Englishman, 
to whom he had granted the same favour, had 
sent him a spy-glass three years after in return. 
His motive may appear to have been interested, 
but the following circumstance tends to prove 
that he is a good man: our Maltese interpreter, 
twenty years ago, had been in a better situation of 
life, and trading in a small way in cotton from 
Syria, was acquainted with this Aga; on some 
occasion he had given him a watch as a present; 
they never again met till the other day, when the 
Maltese travelling as interpreter to Colonel 
Stratton, was recognized, at Jaffa, by the Aga, 
who, seeing him in reduced circumstances, forced 
him to receive a sum of money, saying it was 
now his turn to give a present. The Maltese, 
who is an honest man, declined accepting the 
cash, but the other persisted in presenting it to 
him. This is one, amongst other instances we 
have met of the disinterested generosity of the 



188 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II, 

higher class of Turks. As to Damiani we found 
him of little assistance to us ; he advised us to 
buy a blind horse at a higher price than Mr. 
Bankes gave here for two sound ones. It was 
this that occasioned our reference to the Aga, 
whom we told, on his making us so generous 
an offer, that we feared our journey would occupy 
too much time for him to spare his cattle; he, 
however, replied, that we might keep them as long 
as we pleased. A neat little fountain, as you enter 
this town, we thought merited attention. Jaffa 
is the ancient Joppa: Hiram, king of Tyre, sent 
Lebanon cedars by sea to Joppa, for the building 
of Solomon's temple ; and the latter had them 
removed by land to Jerusalem (see 2 Chronicles, 
e. ii. v. J 6). St. Peter's vision was near Joppa 
(Acts, x.). 

October 15. At nine A.M. we left Jaffa. We 
had hitherto not slept in a house, or under any 
cover since we departed from Cairo ; as yet we 
had found no inconvenience from this ; but as we 
were going to the northward, and the winter 
was fast coming on, we thought it adviseable to 
equip ourselves in a thick Arab suit, made of a- 
sort of coarse wool or sack-cloth ; it was very 
heavy, and at the same time very good ; it cost 
ten piastres, little more than five shillings ; a pair 
of coarse white Turkish breeches and red worsted 



V 



LETTER II.] SYRIA, 189 

turban completed our costume. The sun in the 
desert had browned us to a good standard colour, 
which very well became our dress; we thus 
avoided the curiosity of the natives, who used to 
flock round to gaze at us as if we had been wild 
beasts. For five piastres we purchased a woollen 
mat to do duty as a bed; and thus furnished, 
with four good hack horses under us, we felt 
quite independent. In the provision line, we 
always had a staple of bread, cheese, and onions, 
which served for breakfast, dinner, and supper, 
unless we were fortunate enough to meet with a 
fowl. Our road led along the sea beach. We 
shortly crossed the nahr El Petras. In the after- 
noon we passed through a wild but pretty 
country, and crossed the nahr Arsouf, leaving 
the village of that name (the ancient Appollonias) 
on our left. The following morning we proceeded 
very early, and crossing the nahr El Kasab arrived 
at Cesarea (see the viiith. ixth. xth, and xith. chap- 
ters of Acts). Here we stopped two hours ex- 
amining the antiquities . A small part of these are 
inclosed within the ruins of an old wall and ditch, 
which appeared to be Saracenic; and on a pro- 
montory, which bounds this extremity on the 
south side, are the remains of a large edifice, 
constructed apparently upon the ruins of a 
Roman temple ; immense pillars of granite 



190 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

forming the foundation of the former, placed on 
a bed of rocks. Here is a small bay of the coast, 
on the north point of which, on the rocks, are also 
placed many columns, apparently for the purpose of 
a landing-place for merchandise, &c. The Roman 
remains extend far beyond the limits of the walls 
before-mentioned, and to the north of them. 
Above, and parrallel with the sea beach, are the 
ruins of some arches and a wall, which appears to 
lead to the side of the hills, which now begin to 
approach closer to the sea than heretofore, and to 
the nahr Zerka where the water is fresh ; this 
circumstance, and the wells of the town having 
bad water, led us to suppose these arches to have 
been once part of an aqueduct. There are also 
wells on the promontory before described, but 
they are now dry. Without the Saracenic walls, to 
the south, we found a column of marble, with a Ro- 
man inscription of the Emperor Septimius Severus, 
but too much buried for us to copy : Mr. Bankes 
has since told us it is a mile-stone, as he had 
it cleared for copying. About noon we arrived 
at Tortura, the ancient Dora (see Judges, i. 
27). There are extensive ruins here, but they 
possess nothing of interest. We left this place at 
two, and at four reached Athlite, where we re- 
mained for the night. Between Tortura and 
Athlite are numerous quarries of stone cut out of 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. 191 

the rock, of which the hills are here formed. 
The village of Athlite is situated on a promon- 
tory, nearly forming a peninsula, and apparently 
constructed from the ruins of a more ancient city. 
It is of small extent, and would appear from its 
elevated situation, and the old walls which sur- 
round it, to have been a citadel, as there are the 
ruins of two other walls without it; the other 
incloses a square space, the farther or southern-most 
end of which juts into the sea. There are three 
entrances through this wall, two on the east and 
one on the south side, and steps in various places 
to ascend them. The second wall approaches 
near to that of the citadel; but the outer one, 
which we may suppose to have included the re- 
mainder of the ancient town, incloses a consi- 
derable space of ground now uninhabited. There 
is a small bay of the coast to the south of the 
peninsula, which may have occasioned the con- 
struction of a town on this site, as it makes a 
tolerable haven for small vessels. Within the 
citadel the most interesting of the remains is a 
part of a great building which we were puzzled 
to make out ; its form was originally a double 
hexagon; the half of the circumference, which is 
still standing, has six sides. On the exterior, 
below the cornice, in alto-relievo, are the heads of 
different animals, the human with those of the 



192 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

lion; — the ram and the sheep are particularly 
distinguished. The exterior walls of this edifice 
have a double line of arches in the Gothic style; 
the lower row larger than the upper one ; the 
architecture is light and elegant. There does not 
appear to be any ancient name to this place, and 
from all the information that we can obtain ; the 
ruins are no older than the time of the crusades, 
when the town went by the name of Castel 
Pelegrino. From the commodiousness of the 
bay, the extent of the quarries in the neigbour- 
hood, the fine rich plains near it, though now 
but partly cultivated, it would seem that this 
place was formerly of much importance, and that 
the neighbourhood, though now very thinly in- 
habited, was once populous. 

October 17. At day-light, we departed 
through the northernmost of the two passages 
in the eastern wall; here the rock has been cut 
away to form the road, and various circum- 
stances combined, induced us to form an opinion 
that Athlite is of much greater antiquity 
than is represented. Passing by the part of the 
coast formed by the foot of Mount Carmel, we 
entered the bay of Acre, and in less than three 
hours from Athlite we were at Caiffa (the ancient 
Hepha) ; here we found the only friar at present 
belonging to the convent of Mount Carrael, an 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. 193 

intelligent man (a Maltese), who, after supply- 
ing us with breakfast, attended us to the sum- 
mit of Carmel, where the convent is situated. 
This building, now deserted, was formerly fitted 
with windows, beds, and every accommodation ; it 
was pillaged and destroyed by the Arabs after 
the retreat of the French army from the siege of 
Acre ; the latter having used it as a hospital for 
their sick and wounded, while their operations 
were carrying on; and in the places where the 
poor fellows were lain, the numbers still remain 
by which they were arranged. The friar shewed 
us a cave cut in the natural rock where the 
prophet Elijah had his altar (see 1 Kings, xviii. 
17, and following verses). In front of this are 
the remains of a handsome church in the Gothic 
style, built by the Empress Helena at the time she 
made her pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Those objects 
are in the upper part of the convent, which is of 
a square form, inclosing an open court. From 
Mount Carmel there is a beautiful view of the bay 
of Acre, the mountains at the back, the Mediter- 
ranean, &c. Near the convent are some prostrate 
columns; we found an immense scorpion here 
amongst the rubbish; there is a well of excellent 
water in the court of the convent. Mount 
Carmel is of very inconsiderable height, and 
now quite barren, though at the north-eastern 

o 



1^4 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

foot of it are some pretty olive yards. On men- 
tioning to the friar our suspicions of the ruins of 
Athlite being partly Roman, he suggested the 
idea that it might have been called Athla as the 
present name Athlite resembles it much in sound. 
Returned from Mount Carmel, and left CaifFa at 
three in the afternoon, and following the coast of 
the bay of Acre, shortly passed on over to the 
right of the brook Kishon were Elijah slew the 
worshippers of Baal after he had proved to them 
the existence of the true supreme being, by the 
miracle he had wrought on Mount Carmel. We 
soon after crossed the mouth of the river Kishon, 
and subsequently the river Belus ; we reached 
Acre at sun-set, and were shown to the house of 
Signor Malagamba the British agent. All the 
rivulets we have hitherto passed in Syria, are 
fordable, in the Autumn, close to their junction 
with the sea, where the counteraction of the 
streams of the rivers, which are rapid, and the surf 
of the sea, form sand-banks or bars ; the water is 
generally fresh close to their junction with the 
ocean. 

October 13. We found Signor Malagamba 
more useful to us than Damiani; as he had no 
room to lodge us in, we took up our quarters in 
the convent, where we met with a most handsome 
reception from the u Padre Superiore." We ate 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. 195 

our meals with the worthy consul, whose house 
is in the same khan as the convent. Acre is a 
strong fotified town. Since the French siege, in 
1799, the Turks have doubled the walls which 
inclose the town. We were shewn the breach 
made by the French army, now entirely repaired, 
except the spent shot holes. The situation of 
Acre is delightful; the principal objects in the 
town are the mosque, the pashaw's seraglio, the 
granary, and the arsenal. A great religious 
festival was solemnized by the Turks while we 
were at Acre: the mosques were brilliantly 
illuminated at night, and the next day we went 
to see the pashaw's finest horses; they were 
splendidly caparisoned with the most gaudy trap- 
pings of leopard's skins embroidered with gold and 
silver. The animals themselves were ill made and 
good for nothing, the whole being more for show 
than use. Acre was the Accho of the Old Testa- 
ment, which, together with Achzib, Dor, Sidon, and 
some other places of the sea-coast of Syria, were 
never completely subdued by the Israelites (see 
Judges, i. 31.) Gaza, Ekron, and Ascalon, further 
to the southward, were subjugated (same chap, 
v. 18). We here procured a firman from 
the pashaw, having travelled thus far without 
any authority from the Syrian governments. We 
found this firman worded very strongly in our 



196 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

favour; it was addressed to all the Agas in the 
pashalic of Acre, and our horses were ordered to 
be furnished with fodder, &c. free of expense 
wherever we might go. 

October 20. At one in the afternoon, we 
quitted Acre, going over the plain of that 
name. There was nothing remarkable to be 
seen but the extensive aqueduct by which the 
town is supplied with water. We stopped at 
Zib, the ancient Achzib (see Old Testament, 
Judges, i. 31); the inhabitants were dressed 
for the Mahomedan feast, and crowded round us 
with curiosity. All their sick came for medical 
aid, but we had nothing to give them but the 
balsam of Mecca, which had been so useful at 
Ashdoud ; the shiekh's son amongst others had his 
hand most terribly burnt, and he evinced much 
gratitude for the assistance we rendered to him 
and the rest of the villagers. He offered our in- 
terpreter a considerable sum of money, which the 
other refused. A small medicine chest, with 
Reece's or some other book on the subject, would 
be a truly valuable article in the trunk of a tra- 
veller in these countries, and would be a sure 
means of conciliating a stranger with the natives ; 
it was by a judicious application of a trifling 
knowledge of medicine, that Bruce made his way 
so well in Abyssinia. 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. 197 

October 2 1 . We were mounted and on our 
route at daylight, and in about an hour's time 
we reached and ascended Cape Blanco ; the de- 
scent on the north side, by its numerous windings, 
reminded us of the mountain roads of Switzer- 
land, but these were not half so good as the very 
worst European road we ever met ; the sea dash- 
ing against the rocks below us had a fine effect. 
About three hours before we reached Tsour, the 
ancient Tyre, we observed some ruins on a small 
eminence on our right ; we stopped to visit them^ 
and found they consisted of the remains of a large 
city, and the ruins of a temple in a most dilapi- 
dated state. Two columns, much defaced, are only 
standing; in the lower part of the capital of 
one we distinguished the Echinus moulding: the 
whole has been composed of the natural stone of 
the country, which is calcarious and very porous. 
Beyond this town we distinctly traced the remains 
of the great ancient paved way towards Tyre, 
and afterwards we ascended what is called the 
ladder of the Tyrians; it is a picturesque spot, 
the road being cut in the side of the perpendicular 
cliff on the sea shore, several hundred feet above 
the level of the water. This, according to 
Maundrell (page 52), was the work of Alexander 
the Great. Descending hence into the place 
below, we passed the rubbish of another ancient 



198 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

city, and some picturesque rivulets, and arrived 
at Tsour at one in the afternoon. Here we put 
up at the house of an Arab who called himself a 
Christian archbishop ; he was not at home, and 
at first his wife was unwilling to receive us, as 
we were very roughly attired as Arabs; but our 
conductor assuring her that we were persons 
travelling for pleasure, she behaved to us with 
great civility and attention. The establishment 
was a very humble one, as might be expected in 
so mean a place ; the prophecies of the fall of Tyre 
in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, seem to be 
fulfilled in the present appearance of Tsour, 
there being no vestige remaining of the ancient 
city (so called from Tiras the son of Japheth) 
but mere rubbish. The city, formerly built on 
an island, is now on a peninsula ; the isthmus 
which Alexander caused to be made for the pro- 
secution of his attack on the city, has now the 
appearance of being the work of nature. The 
port is much choaked up with mud, and the 
walls and castle are visible, but I should strongly 
suspect they are not the same which existed at 
the time when Tyre was in its glory. 

October 22. At sun-rise we proceeded on 
our journey, seeing the remains of the ancient 
aqueduct. In the morning we crossed the mouth 
of the Kasmia ; the banks of this river are very 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. 199 

picturesque ; it proceeds from an extensive valley 
between the mountains, and has pretty windings. 
There is a bridge with one arch over it, a little 
below which, it encloses a small island. We con- 
tinued our route through a country nearly barren, 
very thinly populated, and very uninteresting, with 
mountains on our right destitute of either beauty 
or vegetation. We passed through the ruins of 
five or six large cities, now mere rubbish, and 
only distinguishable as sites of towns, by nume- 
rous stones much dilapidated, shewing marks of 
having been cut square with the chisel, with mor- 
ter adhering to them, and fragments of columns. 
The only place marked in the map in this quarter 
is the ancient Sarepta or Zarephath, remarkable 
by the miracle wrought there by Elijah (see 
1 Kings, xvii. 9- and ensuing verses). In the 
afternoon we crossed several dry torrents, and a 
river by a bridge of five arches ; the banks of all 
these streams contain quantities of wild-flowers, 
amongst which is the oleander in full bloom and 
beauty. As we approached Saida we observed 
that the sides of the hills were covered with vine- 
yards, but they have not at all a lively appear- 
ance. Half an hour before we arrived, we passed 
the ruins of another ancient city, also a fragment • 
of another granite column, and a Roman inscrip- 
tion in the time of Septimius Severus ; see Maun- 



200 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

drell, who, as well as Mr. Bankes, copied it, and 
found its purport to be like that near Cesarea — 
a mile-stone. The immediate neighbourhood of 
Saida (the ancient Sidon) is pretty ; it derived 
its name from Sidon the first born of Canaan (see 
Genesis, x. 15). The plain at the foot of the 
hills is entirely appropriated to extensive and 
shady groves and gardens, with narrow and pretty 
lanes between them. There is no English con- 
sul or agent at Saida, we therefore went to the 
convent but found no friars there, and the church 
was shut up. The French consulate had entire 
possession of all the apartments, either for them- 
selves or friends : the French consul himself was 
on a tour to the Holy Land. We had seen him 
at Acre ; he was then going to Nazareth, and 
seemed to be a genteel person ; his wife was 
with him. We had some difficulty in obtain- 
ing a room in this convent, but at last we got one 
belonging to one of the absent servants. The 
French vice-consul now came and visited us, 
and shortly after retired. As we are now 
come into the neighbourhood of Lady Hester 
Stanhope, a few observations will be necessary. 
As we were entrusted with a letter from Mr. 
Salt, a packet of English letters from Acre, and 
a book from Jaffa, we deemed it our duty to 
wait on her, and therefore set out for her usual 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. 201 

residence, an old deserted convent in the moun- 
tain about one hour and half distance from Saida, 
called Mar Elias Alza; but her ladyship was 
removed on account of the heat to a more 
elevated spot in the mountains, called Castle Jeba: 
we therefore forwarded the letters, &c. together 
with a note requesting her ladyship's permission 
to wait on her. The following morning we re- 
ceived a letter, saying, that she had made her mind 
up not to receive any more Englishmen, with 
the exception of officers of the army and navy, 
" all fine fellows," as she was pleased to express 
herself ; at the same time she strongly dissuaded 
us from undertaking the trip to Palmyra, and 
recommended us to make a short tour of fifteen 
or twenty days round the vicinity of Saida, and 
then to return and pass twenty days with her in 
her convent. This, at the present season of the 
year, with the winter and rainy season fast ap- 
proaching, would have been the most impolitic 
plan we could have pursued, and therefore we 
returned a polite answer declining her civilities 
with as good a grace as we could. She is always 
dressed in the Turkish costume as a man ; her 
generosity we heard spoken of in all directions. 
Saida possesses as few relics of its ancient 
magnificence as Tyre. The port, if ever it 
was extensive, is now small and nearly filled up 



202 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

with the accumulation of mud. The castle, con- 
nected to the main by a bridge, is an old building, 
but the same remark which I made on the an- 
cient edificies at Tyre is applicable to those of 
Sidon, viz. that they do not appear to be of 
equal antiquity with that city in the time of its 
splendour. 

October 25. At nine A. M. we left Saida over 
a wretched rugged road, and an uninteresting 
country; we met occasionally the remains of the 
ancient paved way. In the afternoon we passed 
the ruins of an ancient town and burial ground; 
here are many stone sarcophagi, some never- 
opened; their lids are very high and massy, and 
terminating in an angle. A little beyond them 
are two arches in the mountain's side, the ruins 
either of a bridge or an aqueduct. Shortly after, 
we quitted the sea coast and passed over the hills 
which form the promontory of Bayruth ; here is a 
fine view of the plain, covered with groves of 
olives, and of several villages on the mountain's 
side. Descending, we passed through plantations 
of figs and young mulberries for the silk-worm, 
and from thence through gardens neatly inclosed 
by walls where we met occasionally with fragments 
of antiquity. We entered Bayruth at dusk; 
there is an ancient bath, with fragments of granite 
columns, &c. within the town. Bayruth is the 



LETTER II.] 



SYRIA* 



203 



ancient Bery tus ; it was here that St. George 
conquered the dragon, &c. : it is a fine situation, 
and like all the other towns of Syria that we 
have seen, has pretty environs on account of the 
rich gardens, &c. at the back of it; but these 
beauties are always confined to particular spots, 
for an hour's ride usually conducts you again into 
an uninteresting and rocky country. There is a 
fine view of the sea from the marina, and the 
jetty is built on foundations of ancient granite 
columns. At Bayruth we were at the house of 
Mr. Laurella, the English agent, a very good 
fellow. 

October 26. At two in the afternoon we left 
Bayruth, the road being for a short time very 
pretty, with gardens on each side of us. We 
soon crossed the nahr El-Sazib previously joined 
by the nahr El-Leban, or River of Milk, from its 
foaming when overcharged with water. It is a 
pretty rivulet; the bridge has six arches. From 
hence the road led along the sea beach until we 
came to a rocky promontory whose ascent re- 
minded us of the ladder of the Tyrians, though 
it is neither so high or picturesque ; on reaching 
the summit, we saw below us on the other side 
the nahr El-Kelb, or River of the Dog, running 
beautifully through a deep chasm in the moun- 
tains, and a very neat bridge over it, which 



204 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

Maundrell describes as being a bow-shot from 
the sea. The banks are planted with vines and 
mulberries. There is a Roman inscription on 
a tablet carved out of the rock on the side of 
the road we descended; this was copied by 
Maundrell one hundred and twenty years ago, 
and appears to record the construction of the 
passage by the Emperor Antoninus. Near the 
bridge is also another inscription in the 
Arabic language. We passed the night at the 
mouth of the river; at daylight the following 
morning we moved, going along the sea-shore, 
and in an hour's time ascended a rocky point of 
a small bay inhabited by fishermen. At the 
foot of this promontory, close to the sea, are the 
remains of a chapel cut out of the rock, which we 
were informed was the sepulchre of St. George 
(see the note on Bayruth) . The old fishermen, 
whose cottage is situated on the promontory 
above the chapel, were so superstitious as to 
believe, and endeavoured to persuade us, that 
the water of the sea near this spot is a cure for 
all distempers, and that numerous people came 
hither for the purpose of being healed by them. 
We had here a good view of the grand convents 
of Harissa Soummaar, romantically situated on 
the summit of the mountain. The valley at the 
end of this bay is cultivated and studded with 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. 205 

cottages. Proceeding along the sea beach we 
passed a Roman arch constructed with large 
stones over a dry torrent; from hence the road 
led over rugged rocks, till we came to the bridge 
over the nahr Ibrahim, the ancient Adonis. The 
bridge is of a single arch, and handsome, and 
the river, like the nahr El-Kelb, proceeds from a 
deep chasm between the mountains, but the 
level land near the bridge is more extensive than 
that of nahr El-Kelb. We now proceeded by the 
sea-coast to Gebail. On our way we crossed 
over one of those natural bridges, over a torrent 
now dry, spoken of by Volney, who describes 
them thus : " In many places the water meeting 
with inclined beds, has undermined the inter- 
mediate earth, and formed caverns," or natural 
arches. We reached Gebail, or Gibyle, at two 
in the afternoon, and stopped at the convent of 
Maronites, a poor miserable set of people who 
make a merit of never eating meat, &c. At 
Gebail, without the town, there are many Roman 
ruins, and a bridge with many granite columns ; 
within, the modern edifices are, in some instances, 
constructed upon ancient foundations, particularly 
the castle, and there is another ruin near the sea- 
shore. The Roman name of Gebail is marked in 
the map, as Byblus ; but in Ezekiel, xxvii. 9. it is 
called Gebal, and is mentioned as furnishing the 
fleets of Tyre with caulkers. 



206 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

October 28. We went from Gebail to 
Tripoli, which we did not reach till dusk, though 
we started at daylight. We saw nothing of 
interest except what appeared to have been a 
Roman temple, and we passed over a very 
rugged and bad road until we passed Batroun, the 
ancient Botrys. Here the road turned to the 
right through a fine valley between the moun- 
tains, in which we noticed an old castle standing 
on a high rock ; it is called Temseida, and may 
have been constructed to defend this pass ; we 
thought it a picturesque object. The hills on 
the south of the vale are covered with shrubs, 
and by the road's side are plantations of mul- 
berries, vines, &c. A small river, which we 
occasionally crossed by bridges, takes its winding 
course through the valley. Leaving the valley, 
we passed to the north over the mountains by 
rugged paths, bordered by the myrtle and other 
wild shrubs, until we again joined the coast. 
When about an hour's distance from Tripoli, we 
passed through some very rich inclosed gardens. 
At sun-set we arrived, and not being aware that 
there was an English consul in the town, took up 
our quarters in the convent, with Padra Herme- 
nigildo. Tripoli is the neatest town we had seen 
in Syria, the houses being all well built of stone, 
and neatly constructed within. It is seated at 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. 207 

the foot of the mountains, at some distance from 
the sea-shore, and is surrounded by luxuriant 
gardens, producing innumerable oranges and 
lemons. The town is commanded by two old 
castles on the heights at the back of it, built in 
the time of the crusades. The port, an in- 
different one, is near an hour's distance, on a 
low point of the sea-coast ; there is a village 
there, but the anchorage is open, being only a 
little sheltered by the Pigeon Islands. Maun- 
drell (quoting Strabo) says that here were 
anciently three cities ; one subject to Aradus, a 
second to Tyre, and the third to Sidon, which is 
the origin of the name of Tripoli ; there are 
other square towers, apparently of the time of the 
crusades, all the way from the port towards 
Tripoli. On the second day of our arrival we 
received a message from the English consul, 
expressive of his regret that we had not come 
to his house ; we immediately waited on him, 
and explained the circumstance to his satis- 
faction. He was a fine old man, nearly eighty 
years of age, and well remembered Bruce, who 
stayed some days at his house ; we were quite 
delighted with the affable and sensible conver- 
sation of this good man. 

On Thursday, at four in the morning, we left 
Tripoli, for the purpose of visiting the cedars of 



208 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

Lebanon and Baalbec. Signor Giuseppe Mazo- 
liere, the son of a late French merchant of that 
name, whose son is the sheikh of the village of 
Eden, accompanied us, at the request of the 
padre of the convent. The ascent from Tripoli is 
gradual ; the first object of interest is the 
aqueduct and bridge over the nahr Kavdas, or 
Abouli river. These structures are overgrown 
with bushes and weeds, and the river runs in a 
picturesque manner under them in two channels. 
Leaving this place, the road is good, through 
cultivated plains and groves of olives, passing 
occasionally beautiful vallies watered by branches 
of the river. Afterwards the road becomes very 
rugged, steep, and irregular, the whole way to 
the village of Eden, passing between two con- 
spicuous points of the mountain. Eden is 
delightfully situated, by the side of a most rich 
and highly cultivated valley. It contains between 
four and five hundred families, who on the 
approach of winter descend to another village 
only an hour's distance from Tripoli ; the families 
were in the act of removing to their winter habi- 
tations when we arrived ; and on our return from 
Baalbec, all those who had not previously quitted 
their summer quarters descended with us. They 
have an Arab catholic bishop, a church, and 
several priests ; there is another village, probably 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. 209 

in the same diocese, lower down in the vale. 
We arrived at Eden about two o'clock, which, 
including stoppages, makes it ten hours from 
Tripoli. 

Early on Friday morning, we set out by moon- 
light for the cedars, and arrived a little after 
daylight. The ascent from Eden to the cedars 
is but little; the distance, allowing for the 
windings of the road, which is very rugged, and 
passes over occasional hill and dale, may be about 
five miles. On the right, higher up the mountain, 
is a larger and deeper vale than that of Eden, 
with the village of Beshiri in the bottom; this 
valley is very rich and picturesque. It is sur- 
rounded by lofty mountains, and is watered by a 
winding stream. It reminded us of the vale of 
the Dive in Savoy, and its (< Pont de Chevres." 
The famous cedars of Lebanon are situated on a 
small eminence, in a valley at the foot of the highest 
part of the mountain ; the land on the mountain's 
side has a sterile aspect, and the trees are remark- 
able by being altogether in one clump ; from this 
spot the cedars are the only trees to be seen in 
Lebanon. There may be about fifty of them, but 
their present appearance ill corresponds with the 
character given of them in scripture. There did 
not appear to be one tree amongst the whole 
which had much merit, either for dimensions or 

P 



2 1 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

beauty ; the largest amongst them would appear 
to be the junction of four or five trunks into one 
tree ; according to Maundrell this is twelve yards 
in girt; but we are much more inclined to agree 
with Volney than with Maundrell, in the descrip- 
tion which these travellers have respectively given 
of the cedars of Lebanon. Numerous names 
carved on the trunk of the greater trees, some of 
which are as far back as 1640, bear testimony to 
the curiosity of individuals to visit this interesting 
spot, which is nearly surrounded by the barren 
chain of Lebanon, in the form of an amphitheatre 
of about thirty miles circuit, the opening being 
towards the sea. We thought the tout ensemble 
more represented the Apennines at the back of 
Genoa, than any other mountain scenery we had 
witnessed. Mount Lebanon and its cedars are so 
frequently alluded to in scripture, that it would 
be almost an endless and useless task to make 
extracts ; but it appears to us that they are no 
where so remarkably noticed, as in the glory and 
fall of Assyria, in the xxxi. of Ezekiel; in the 
] 6th verse you will observe, "All the trees of Eden, 
the choice and best of Lebanon," which would 
seem to infer that the boasted cedars were always 
near the same place in which the few remaining 
ones now are, as they are not more than five 
miles distant from the modern village of Eden. 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. 2 1 1 

In a former part of my letter, relating to Joppa, 
I mentioned that the cedar of Lebanon was used 
in the construction of Solomon's temple ; in the 
2nd Chronicles, ii. 8. are the words, " Send me 
also cedar-trees, fir-trees, and algum-trees, out 
of Lebanon," which clearly implies, that quanti- 
ties of not only cedars formerly grew on this 
mountain, but also that other kinds of wood were 
found there, which now are no more to be met with, 
unless the walnut-tree of the present day, which 
is in very high perfection at Eden, is the algum- 
tree of the ancients. In the first book of Kings, 
chap. vi. and vii. describing Solomon's temple, it 
also appears that much cedar was used in this 
edifice. With respect to the village of Eden, this 
also appears to be the same with the garden of 
God, so called throughout the whole of the 
xxxi. chap, of Ezekiel, particularly in the 8th and 
9th verse ; but by reference to Genesis ii. verse 8, 
the position of the garden of God, in Eden, where 
Adam and Eve were placed, seems very uncertain, 
for from the ] Oth to the 1 4th verses you observe, 
" A river went out of Eden to water the garden, 
and from thence it was parted and became into four 
heads:" the river of Ethiopia (the Nile) appears 
to be one of the four, and the Euphrates another. 
Maundrell makes no extracts from scripture 
concerning Lebanon ; I dare say, because he 



2 1 2 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

thought it would be useless, as it is mentioned 
in so many different places. Volney is also silent 
on the subject, I mean as far as respects quota- 
tions. Eden is called Aden by the natives at this 
day ; but to proceed: — We here hired a guide to 
conduct us over Lebanon into the valley of Bekaa 
Mathooalis, in which Baalbec is situated. Leaving 
the cedars about an hour after sun-rise, we as- 
cended to the crest of Lebanon, where we had an 
extensive view over the hills at its S. E. foot into 
the valley, with Baalbec in the distance ; we 
beheld also to the westward the sea for a considera- 
ble distance. Altogether it was not a bad view, 
but certainly not deserving the commendations 
which Volney bestows on it. Lebanon, it appears 
in the Syriac language, signifies white, which 
this mountain is, both in summer and winter ; in 
the former season, on account of the natural 
colour of the barren rock, and in the latter by 
reason of the snow. 

The valley of Baalbec, or of the Kasmia, or 
Bekaa Mathooalis, has an excessively rich soil, but 
it is put to little advantage, being very partially 
cultivated, and having no trees except in the im- 
mediate neighbourhood of Baalbec itself, which 
are chiefly the fig and the walnut. The valley is 
bounded on the N. W. side by Lebanon, and on its 
S. E. by Anti-Lebanon; its breadth may be about 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. 213 

ten miles, while its length from N. E. to S. W. 
extends as far as the eye can reach. The Kasmia 
has its source to the north of Baalbec (see Vol- 
ney), and running through the plain, discharges 
itself into the sea a little to the north of Tyre. 
How deplorable that so luxuriant a spot, with a 
fine loamy soil, should lay waste and desolate ! 
and what ideas of former wealth and magnificence 
do the splendid ruins of Baalbec call to the mind. 
The inhabitants of the mountain are nearly all of 
the church of Rome ; but those of the Bekaa 
Mathooalis are a particular sect of Mahomedans, 
differing from the Turks in general ; they are 
more hostile to the Christians than any of the 
natives of Syria ; but to return : — In descending 
from the summit of Lebanon the road was exces- 
sively steep and rugged ; we dismounted and 
walked our horses down it ; the sides of the moun- 
tain abound in partridges, all red-legged, and other 
game. At the S. E. foot of this part of Lebanon 
is the source of a fine clear rivulet, which finally 
unites with the Kasmia. From hence we pro- 
ceeded over some rugged hills covered with 
shrubs ; a species of oak, the myrtle, and the 
almond-tree, are all remarkable. Mr. Mazo- 
liere told us they have a tradition that there 
were formerly gardens here, and the al- 
mond and pear-trees seem to confirm the idea. 



214 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

Crossing these hills, you come, near the plain, to 
the first village, after leaving the cedars. Late 
in the evening we arrived at Yead, a village about 
an hour's distance from Baalbec ; the horses 
having been on route from two o'clock in the 
morning, without any food, about fifteen hours, 
which caused us to blame our guide much, as 
we might have brought fodder with us from 
Aden, had we known how uninhabited the coun- 
try was through which we had to pass. But the 
guide seemed intent only on his own interest, and 
when we, hearing of the distance to Baalbec from 
the cedars, threatened to return to Tripoli, on 
account of the horses, he, fearing to lose his 
money for the trip, declared there were several 
villages in the way where we could refresh the 
animals. 

November 1. Early this morning we arrived 
at Baalbec, and employed the whole day in visit- 
ing the antiquities ; the preceding day had been 
excessively fine, the sky being so clear that scarce 
a cloud was to be seen, but on Saturday evening 
they collected much on Lebanon and the tops of 
the other hills, and the natives announced to us 
the approach of bad weather. We took dimen- 
sions and made remarks of every thing at Baal- 
bec, but as Wood, and Dawkins in particular, as 
well as Volney, have given correct descriptions, 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. 215 

illustrated with plates, it would be superfluous 
here to enter into minute detail. I cannot help, 
however, making a few observations on one mass 
of ruins, the imposing grandeur of which parti- 
cularly struck us. I allude to that remnant of a 
colonnade where there are six columns standing; 
the beauty and elegance of these pillars are sur- 
prising ; their diameter is seven feet, and we esti- 
mated their altitude at between fifty and sixty feet, 
exclusive of the epistylia which is twenty feet deep, 
and composed of immense blocks of stone, in two 
layers of ten feet each in depth. The whole of this 
is most elaborately ornamented with rich carved 
work in various devices. We imagine these pillars 
to have been the remains of an avenue of twenty 
columns on each side, forming an approach to the 
temple. The space originally included by these 
pillars was one hundred and four paces long, by 
fifty-eight broad. We were much pleased with the 
architecture and sculpture throughout, though 
now much disfigured by the ruins having been 
once converted into a fortress. There are re- 
markably large stones used in the building of the 
various edifices, and in the S. W. part of the 
elevated walls on which they stand, we measured 
a single stone of sixty-six feet in length, and 
twelve in breadth and thickness. The whole of 
these buildings, together with the walls, are of 



216 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

coarse marble, excessively hard. In the construc- 
tion of the pyramids and temples in Egypt, we 
never noticed a single stone of more than thirty 
feet in length, and these were most of calcarious 
or sand stone, excepting some few of granite. The 
inhabitants of Baalbec, although much prejudiced 
against Christians, were to us quiet and well dis- 
posed, and seemed less curious and inquisitive 
than the natives living near any antiquities we 
had visited. We left Baalbec on our return on 
Sunday at mid-day, but the afternoon turning out 
very rainy, we stopped for the night at a small 
village beyond the opposite side of the plain. We 
observed, when it cleared away in the evening^ 
that considerable quantities of snow had fallen on 
the mountains, which may give some idea of the 
vast height of Lebanon ; and as a farther proof, 
when we crossed the mountain the preceding 
Friday, we found several patches of last year's 
snow, which, though melted on the general sur- 
face of the mountain, still remains in some places, 
near the summit, throughout the year ( 13 ), though 
the weather was perfectly clear, with the sun 
shining all the time, and the heat was oppres- 
sive. ~ 

November 3. Monday, the morning was foggy 
but calm, and the sun breaking out with force at 
times, we hoped the haze would clear away and 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. 217 

that we should have fine weather ; we accordingly 
proceeded on our return to Tripoli, but had not 
gone far when we met some peasants returning 
to their village, after having made an ineffectual 
attempt to cross Lebanon, where they said we 
should meet with very bad weather, and much 
snow. In fact, the N. E. wind began shortly to 
blow with violence and excessively cold, with such 
heavy showers of sleet, snow, and rain, that we 
were obliged to take shelter in a cave at the foot 
of the mountain for the whole day. We found 
here many peasants, who had made ineffectual 
attempts to cross, but as we had a difficulty in 
getting room for our horses, the cave being small 
and nearly filled before we arrived, we removed 
to a larger though more exposed one, being little 
more than a projecting cleft of the rock, where 
we got ourselves and our horses also under a 
roof, and made a large fire for the night ( 14 ). 
The next morning being fine we began to ascend ; 
the peasants with their cattle were unwilling to 
make the first trial, as they knew it would be 
difficult to find the road on account of the depth 
of snow ; at the same time they were aware that 
the second party could always profit by the traces of 
the first. We met with no difficulty until we came 
nearly to the top, when losing the road, the snow 
being very deep, and the sides of the mountain 



2 1 8 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

steep, our horses all fell with us, and were partly 
buried ; being obliged to dismount, we had con- 
siderable trouble in reaching the summit : the 
cold was excessive, and having on loose linen 
Turkish breeches, and shoes without any stock- 
ings, we felt it severely. In descending the op- 
posite side, the snow was also very deep, and we 
found it adviseable to push on lest we should be 
caught in a fog, which the appearance of the 
weather seemed to threaten; we reached Eden in 
safety about two in the afternoon ; the weather 
had again set in thick and hazy ; shortly after 
we began to descend. We were informed at 
Eden that the bishop had publicly offered up 
prayers for our safety, and that people are pro- 
hibited from crossing Lebanon after the first of 
November ; but I much doubt the truth of the 
latter assertion ; none of us received any injury 
by the weather except Mr. Mazoliere's servant, 
whose legs were much chapped and cracked by 
the cold, he having never been in the snow before. 

On Wednesday, November 5, with fine weather, 
we returned to Tripoli ; the natives of Aden with 
their wives, children, and baggage, descending at 
the same time ; the first part of the descent was in 
some places so steep and difficult, that we observed 
the peasants held on by the tails of their horses 
to prevent them from falling. On our arrival at 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. 219 

Tripoli, we understood that they also had expe- 
rienced very bad weather on the coast. Young 
Mazoliere was very civil, he supplied us with 
accommodation, and an excellent supper the first 
time we stopped at Aden ; but on our return, his 
relations had retired from the place. We got 
delightful wine there ; that of Lebanon has 
always been esteemed, even in the time of the 
Bible (see Hosea, xiv. 7). We were treated 
with the greatest kindness by the Padre Herme- 
nigildo, and we dined one day with the consul, 
when we found that Mr. Bankes had sent his trunk 
there from Cyprus, previous to his own arrival. 
Wet weather detained us at Tripoli until the 
afternoon of the ninth of November, when we 
went as far as the nahr El-Bered, or Cold River. 
We passed the night in a khan, a place appro- 
priated to the use of travellers, which Maundrell 
very well describes in the first and second pages of 
his book. The map places here a village named 
Orthosa, the site of the ancient Orthosia, but 
there is nothing now about the nahr El-Bered but 
the khan above alluded to. There is a difficulty, 
in some instances, to distinguish Roman ruins 
from these khans, as both the Romans and the 
Turks seem alike partial to the mode of building 
with arches. The next day we went as far as 



220 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

Tortosa, nearly opposite the island of Ruad, 
where stood the famous city of Aradus. There 
are Roman remains at each of these places ; the 
walls of Tortosa are constructed on the ancient 
foundation cut in the rock, and the remains of the 
castle after you enter the gates are ancient. There 
are also some old sepulchral caves by the road side ; 
they serve to shew that the Romans, as well as the 
Egyptians, had burial places of this description ; 
but the difference of climate between this country 
and Egypt has destroyed all remains of stucco 
or painting, if ever they were thus decorated, 
which we have reason to believe they were, as Mr. 
Bankes told us he saw a Roman cave with fresco 
painting in it near Saida. The island of Ruad, 
according to Maundrell, is the Arvad, Arpad, or 
Arphad in scripture (see Ezekiel, xxvii. Jere- 
miah, xlix. Isaiah, x. 2 Kings, xviii. and xix. 
and Genesis, x.). In the first of these, it appears 
that Arvad and Sidon supplied the fleets of Tyre 
with seamen. 

November 1 1 . We went as far as the nahr 
El-Mulk, which having crossed by a bridge, we 
stopped for the night at a village about half an 
hour's distance from the river, the huts of which 
appeared to be temporary habitations, being con- 
structed of reeds and straw, there are Roman 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. 22 1 

ruins at the mouth of the nahr El-Mulk. We 
had hitherto been always in the habit of sleeping 
in the open air, when we arrived at an Arab 
village in the night; but now, the month of 
November being far advanced, we wished to 
discontinue the practice, and accordingly asked 
for shelter, which was refused, unless each of us 
four would consent to sleep in a separate habi- 
tation. This we knew was the place were 
Monsr. Boutin, the French traveller, was killed, 
and not being pleased with this mode of pro- 
ceeding, the natives assuring us that they could 
not find room for all four in one hut, we 
bivouacked in the open air as usual, the night 
being fine and clear. The following morning 
we found, close to where we slept, an empty 
uninhabited hut, which appeared to have done 
duty as a barn ; our heads were against one end 
of it, and had they any civility, they might have 
offered it to us. In the night a man came to 
endeavour to persuade us not to lie where we 
were, saying, that the wolves would destroy us; 
we, however, had more apprehension of the two- 
legged wolves stealing some of our things, and 
told our informer we had our fire arms ready, and 
should keep a good look out for these animals. 
In the morning our bread and part of a ham 



222 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

which Padre Hermenigildo had given us were 
missing, but we suspected the dogs, with which 
all Arab villages abound, had taken our meat, 
for pork is an abomination to the Turks. 

November 12. In the afternoon we reached 
Latachia. Two hours from where we slept is 
Jebilee, the ancient Gabala, where are Roman 
ruins, the principal of which is the remains of 
a fine theatre at the north side of the town. 
The whole journey from Tripoli, with one ex- 
ception in the neighbourhood of Markab, a 
village inclosed in ancient fortifications, and 
seated on the top of a square mountain, near 
which the coast is rocky, is along a vast rich 
plain at the foot of the Ansanar mountains, 
which are of no considerable height, and are 
said to be inhabited by Pagan tribes; the plain 
is watered by many rivers, and there are also 
several torrents now dry. These rivers are 
generally pretty, their banks are covered with 
myrtle, oleander, wild vine, fig, &c. Though 
the soil is rich it is very partially cultivated 
and thinly peopled; the principal produce near 
Jebilee is cotton, which the natives were gathering 
in as we passed. The city of Latahcia was 
founded by Seleucus Nicator, under the name of 
Laodicea, in honour of his mother ; he also 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. 223 

founded three other cities in this neighbourhood, 
viz. Selucia, now Suadeah; Antioch; and Apa- 
meia, now Famiah. Latachia is seated on the 
N. W. side of Cape Ziaret, an elevated pro- 
jection of the coast; in the neighbourhood are 
gardens planted with olives, figs, &c. in the 
manner of all the towns of Syria. The port, 
which is half an hour's distance from the town, is 
very small, but it is better sheltered than any 
we have seen on this coast. There is a fine old 
castle projecting into the sea at the point of a 
bed of rocks; the Marina is built upon founda- 
tions of ancient columns. There are, in the town of 
Latachia, an old gate-way and other antiquities; 
there are also sepulchral caves in the neighbourhood, 
but as they have no paintings, we did not think it 
worth while to visit them. Mount Lebanon was in 
sight the whole way from Tripoli, and was the 
only mountain on which we could see snow; 
Mount Cassius was before us. The Christian 
natives of Latachia and of all the pashalic of 
Aleppo to the north of Latacha, are mostly of 
the Greek church, speaking the Arabic language ; 
but I must refer you to Volney for a general 
description of the different tribes and religious 
sects that inhabit Syria; as he deals largely and 
scientifically on the subject. We lodged at the 



224 TRAVELS IN [LETTER It 

house of the English agent, Signor Moses Elias, 
a very excellent man. We were detained here 
till the fifteenth, by the intrigues of the Arab 
conductor, who affected to be unwell, and who 
had previously at Acre, Bay ruth, and other 
places, tried all in his power to oblige us to send 
him and the horses back to Jaffa, thus occasion- 
ing us a good deal of trouble and inconvenience. 

November 1 6. We went as far as the village 
of Candele ; the road was along a fine plain until 
we came near it, when crossing some hills we 
descended into the valley of that name. The 
village is seated amongst the sand hills to the 
west of the vale, and we had some difficulty in 
finding it. The next day we were continually 
passing over hills richly wooded, with numerous 
narrow intricate roads, which occasioned us to 
lose our way several times, by which means we 
lost so much time, that the night had set in, 
without our finding the village of Lourdee, 
whither we were bound; and we were on the 
point of giving up the search, and bivouacking 
in the wood, when luckily some dogs barking, in- 
dicated to us the vicinity of the place, which is in 
an elevated situation, and immediately by the side 
of the highest pinnacle of Mount Cassius, in the 
middle of a plain. 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. 225 

November 1 8. We were employed in descending 
the north side of these mountains, the scenery- 
still continuing woody and wild ; we this day also 
lost our way several times. In the afternoon we 
reached the banks of the Orontes, at the place 
where commences the picturesque part of the 
river, and, immediately below the spot where the 
chart was marked, the site of the " city and 
groves of Daphne." Mr. Barker has visited the 
site, and from him we learn that there are still 
to be seen the grand sources of water which com- 
posed the celebrated fountain. In some instances, 
Mr. B. says, the water boils up as thick as a man's 
body, and that jet (Feaux might be made here of 
that thickness, of upwards of fifty feet high. We 
now began to follow the banks of the river, and 
were astonished at the beauty of the scenery, far 
surpassing any thing we expected to see in Syria, 
and, indeed, any thing we had witnessed even 
in Switzerland, though we walked nine hundred 
miles in that country, and saw most of its 
beauty. The river, from the time we began 
to trace its banks, ran continually between two 
high hills, winding and turning incessantly ; at 
times the road led along precipices in the rocks, 
looking down perpendicularly on the river. The 
luxuriant variety of foliage was prodigious, and 
the rich green myrtle, which was very plentiful, 

Q , 



L 2%6 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

contrasted with the colour of the road, the soil of 
which was a dark-red gravel, made us imagine 
we were riding through pleasure-grounds. The 
laurel, laurestinus, bay-tree, fig-tree, wild vine, 
plane-tree, English sycamore, arbutus, both com- 
mon and andrachne, dwarf oak, &c. were scat- 
tered in all directions. At times the road was 
overhung with rocks, covered with ivy ; the 
mouths of caverns also presented themselves, and 
gave a wildness to the scene ; and the perpen- 
dicular cliffs jutted into the river upwards of three 
hundred feet high, forming corners round which 
the waters ran in a most romantic manner; and 
on one occasion the road wound round a deep 

bay thus zr!^^^^, so that on perceiving our- 
selves immediately opposite the spot we had so 
recently passed, it appeared that we had crossed 
the river. We descended at times into plains 
cultivated with mulberry plantations and vines, 
and prettily studded with picturesque cottages. 
The occasional shallows of the river keeping up a 
perpetual roaring, completed the beauty of this 
delightful scene, which lasted about two hours, 
when we entered the plain of Suadeah, where the 
river becomes of a greater breadth, and runs in as 
straight a line as a canal. By the time we en- 
tered the plain it had become moon-light, and 



LETTER II. J SYRIA. ( 2 C 2J 

we had difficulty in finding Suadeah. A peasant 
at last shewed us a place where the river is fordable 
just up to the horses bellies, for there is no bridge. 
We found Suadeah to be a straggling village, con- 
sisting of unconnected cottages, situated in a plain 
chiefly inclosed with mulberry and lemon planta- 
tions. We put up at a house appropriated for the 
use of travellers in general, and which we found 
the best place we have yet met with. The soubash 
of the place, a sort of petty governour, was in the 
house, and treated us with wonderful civility, or- 
dering us a good supper, feeding our horses, and 
in the morning he refused to let us pay a para; 
and whatever may be the generally received 
character of the Turks, we have always met from 
them the greatest civility and attention. All he 
asked for was a little gunpowder ; we gave him a 
little, but had unfortunately given nearly all our 
stock to young Mazoliere at Tripoli. 

November 19- In the morning we pursued 
our journey towards Antioch, being in a hurry, 
and understanding that the ruins of the ancient 
Seleucia, which are near the sea, (Suadeah being 
half an hour's distance from it) possess no particu- 
lar interest. The weather turned out very wet this 
day, and after we had been on route about three 
hours, being two hours' distance from Antioch, we 
perceived some cottages, and being thoroughly wet, 



228 TRAVELS IN [LETTER IL 

th rough baggage and all, we requested shelter. 
The two first cottages had only women in them, 
whose husbands being absent, they did not dare 
receive us ; at the third we went to, the men were 
willing to admit us, but the women would not 
hear of it, and expressed their refusal in a violent 
and ill-natured manner ; during the time we were 
soliciting a shelter, was it only in a cow-house, 
the rain was pouring in torrents, and we making 
a pitiable appearance, being perfectly soaked. See- 
ing no intreaty could succeed, we gave them the 
kat-ack-harack, the Arab expression of thanks, 
an tried another cottage, where we were ad- 
mitted without the least hesitation. These cot- 
tages are long buildings of a single room ; the 
cattle occupy one end, and human inhabitants the 
other. They have extensive plantations of young 
mulberries for the silk-worms, and looms for 
manufacturing their produce. The occupants 
of the hut, who consisted of the proprietor, his 
mother, wife, brother, and children, were of that 
tribe of Mahomedans which Volney designates as 
Turkmen ; they were uncommonly kind, placing 
us near a large fire, giving us good beds and 
coverlids, and making us join them in a humble 
supper of doura and wheat boiled. It rained a 
great deal the whole night, and we were detained 
till noon on the following day, when we pro- 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. 2 L 29 

ceeded to Antioch, giving these people eleven 
piastres, and a double gold Napoiean, value forty- 
four piastres, as an ornament for the wife, be- 
sides paying for the horses, corn, &c. The wo- 
men in this country ornament themselves with 
money according to their circumstances ; the 
poorer class with paras, and the higher orders 
with sequins of eleven piastres each, and gold 
roubees of two and a half each. We gave this 
present as much to reward the goodness of our 
host and his wife, as to make the ladies in the 
other cottage vexed and ashamed of themselves. 
We also thought that a few piastres thus dis- 
posed of might benefit other travellers coming 
after us, and who might find themselves in the 
same predicament. Antioch is beautifully situated 
on the left bank of the Orontes, at the foot of a 
hill ; there is a good-looking bridge over the 
river, and some of the heights are picturesque. 
The present town, which is a miserable one, does 
not occupy more than one-eighth part of the 
space included by the old walls, which have a 
fine, venerable appearance, having square towers 
every hundred yards, with occasional turrets 
for looking out ; these are the works of the 
Roman and Greek emperors. Antioch is said 
to have contained between eight and nine 
hundred thousand inhabitants. The plain of 



230 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

Antioch is considerably elevated above that of 
Suadeah. We were concerned to find ourselves 
at Antioch without having visited the ruins of 
the city and groves of Daphne, but this was im- 
possible without a guide, and there was no pro- 
curing one. The houses of Antioch, Suadeah* 
Lourdee, and their neighbourhood, are roofed and 
tiled, without terraces, differing in that respect 
from most of the towns of Syria. There are 
many sepulchral caves in the side of the hill at the 
back of Antioch. This town is celebrated in the 
Acts of the Apostles, xiii. " Paul and Barnabas 
embark at Seleucia (the present Suadeah, and the 
port of Antioch) for Cyprus;" at Antioch we were 
lodged in a khan. 

November 22. We went as far as Gesir 
Adid, four hours' distance, near a bridge over the 
Orontes. Our road was through a barren plain, 
bounded to the north by mountains, with a view of 
the lake called Aggi Dengis at their foot. Rain 
prevented our leaving this place till noon on the 
following day, when we went as far as a place 
called Bourkee, the site of a Roman town of con- 
siderable dimensions ; the ancient sepulchral caves 
of which are cut in the side of the mountains, and 
serve the present natives for their habitations. 
We took up our abode in an old, deserted mill, in 
ruins, and which a small rivulet had served to turn. 



LETTER H.] 



SYRIA. 



23! 



November 23. We passed over some rocky 
hills into the plain of Alaks, supposed to be that 
in which Aurelian conquered Zenobia, We 
passed many sites of ancient towns, castles, tanks, 
temples, &e. all of the lower empire, and very un- 
interesting ; on one occasion we counted eleven 
sites in a rich plain, with a fine loamy soil, 
now left desolate and uninhabited. So much 
for the Turkish government, and their mode of 
encouraging agriculture, the arts, &c. ! The east- 
ern part, however, of the plain of Alaks, which 
is nearest Aleppo, has a few villages, the inha- 
bitants of which, in considerable numbers, were 
collecting their cotton as we passed them. We 
stopped at Tourneen, the easternmost of the vil- 
lages above alluded to. 

November 25. About three in the afternoon 
we arrived at Aleppo, passing through an open 
country, with a thin surface of soil, well 
tilled in most parts, but destitute of trees or 
variety, as indeed is the case all the way from 
Antioch. We had been recommended by our 
departed friend and adviser Sheikh Ibrahim, to 
take the route to the northward of Aggi Dengis, 
as it would have conducted us to the mountains 
and ruins of St. Simon, which, however, are all of 
the lower empire, and, as we have since learnt, 



232 TRAVELS IN [LETTER 11. 

totally uninteresting, being very like those we 
saw by the road we went. We have further 
reason to rejoice in having taken the road we did, 
as the Curds who inhabit the mountains were 
in rebellion against the pashaw, who had sent a 
military force to quell them shortly before our 
arrival ; we have since heard that the chiefs 
escaped, but example has been made by the 
death of about twenty of the prisoners, some of 
whom, I am sorry to say, are supposed to have 
been innocent. The pashaw hearing this, is said 
to have been much affected, and recalled his 
troops, saying, that as the chiefs had escaped, and 
the natives had submitted, he did not wish the 
business to be carried any farther. 

On arriving at Mr. Barker's, the consul general, 
we found Mr. Bankes there, and were glad of 
the opportunity of meeting this celebrated and 
indefatigable traveller ; he was on his way to 
revisit Egypt and Nubia, having some idea of 
penetrating from the second cataract into Abys- 
sinia. We mutually gave each other all the 
information we possessed ; Mr. B. on Asia Minor 
and Greece, and we on Egypt and Nubia. He 
paid us the compliment to say he wished he 
could contrive that we might travel together, as 
he heard we were the only travellers he had met 



LETTER II.} SYRIA. 233 

that go after his method. We found him a most 
sensible and entertaining person ; he has now 
been five years on his travels. 

December 22. We still remain waiting for 
the arrival of the Sukne caravan, which brings 
kali from that place to Aleppo, from which it is 
five days' distance, and Palmyra is two more days' 
off. The kindness we have experienced in this 
hospitable mansion, merits our sincere gratitude. 
I fear we shall be a little spoiled when we turn out 
for Palmyra in a new Arab costume ; for here, 
independent of the society of Mr. B. and his 
amiable family, we have had every comfort and 
luxury we could imagine. Our amusements have 
varied in the most delightful manner, sometimes 
we went out shooting, the gardens near Aleppo 
abounding in woodcocks, &c; twenty a day is 
not thought very good sport : I have killed alto- 
gether one dozen, but never more than three in 
one day. We coursed the gazelle and hare alter- 
nately, the greyhounds in this country being very 
swift and strong. We were indulged one day with 
a hawking scene. The cheapness and plenty of 
game is astonishing ; every day we have had either, 
woodcocks, or partridges, wild-geese, or ducks, 
teal, the bustard, or wild turkey, joli notes, &c. 
and to crown all, the porcupine, which is a deli- 
cious animal, resembling both in appearance and 



234 TRAVELS IN [LETTER II. 

taste, the pig and hare. We thought the flesh of 
the gazelle well flavoured, although Bruce abuses 
it; the white species is supposed to be the best. The 
porcupine inhabits holes in the rocks, and they are 
so quick of hearing, that it is very difficult to shoot 
them, as they never quit their holes till dark, and 
even then with the greatest circumspection ; the 
people wait patiently for hours in the cold, near 
the holes, till the animal makes its appearance ; 
they commit much mischief in the gardens near 
the city. We had an idea of visiting Bagdad, 
for the purpose of seeing the ruins of Babylon, 
but as Mr. Massick, the Dutch consul here, had 
recently received a letter on the very subject, 
from a friend, wherein mention was made that 
there is nothing whatever to be seen, we gave it 
up, as also did Mr. Bankes, who had the same 
intention; I inclose you the copy of the letter. 
Mr. Barker has resided nineteen years as consul 
general in this place, and we find his advice and 
assistance of the greatest use. As we came into 
this country with only one hundred and fifty 
pounds, which Mr. Salt supplied us on our bills, 
we had made up our minds to return to Cairo, to 
get our letter of credit, and also to increase our 
stock of money for Asia Minor, Greece, &c. but 
Mr. Barker imagining some such motive was the 
cause of our intended return to Egypt, most 



LETTER II.] SYRIA. 235 

kindly anticipated us on this head, and without 
our even hinting the subject, insisted on supplying 
us with whatever money or letters of credit we 
wanted ; this will entirely prevent the necessity 
of our going to Egypt again, and will assist us 
much. I shall say nothing of either Aleppo or 
its environs, reserving that for the subject of a 
future letter. We are anxious to have done 
with travelling in the Mahomedan countries, 
and again to enjoy the comforts of Switzerland 
and Italy. There is a great sameness in all 
Turkish towns, and the want of inns, theatres, 
museums, picture galleries, libraries, promenades, 
evening parties, and the ever handy and comfort- 
able cafF6, are privations which an European 
must ever regret. We have a^ firman from the 
Grand Seignior coming from Constantinople, Mr. 
Barker having written for it on our arrival here ; 
it will be useful in Asia Minor. 

December 24. The caravan from Sukne 
arrived this day, and we shall soon be off. We 
are to send the outlines of our tour to Lord 
Belmore for his guidance, but this we defer till 
we get to Palmyra. His lordship very kindly 
offered us a passage in his brig to any parts 
which might lie in his way, should we be enabled 
to embark with him from Syria ; but there is 
no chance of this, 



236 TRAVELS IN SYRIA. [LETTER 12. 

December 29- We were to have set off this 
evening for Palmyra, by way of Sukne, when a 
merchant from Bagdad, a great friend of Mr. 
Barker's happening to drop in, strongly dissuaded 
us from the measure, and urged us to go by the 
way of Hamah or Horns, as the Annasee Arabs 
are in the neighbourhood of Palmyra. We had 
thought the cold had driven them to the south- 
ward, towards the banks of the Euphrates, but as 
it appears there yet remain two tribes of them, 
Horns is recommended as the best place to start 
from. In consequence we propose moving from 
hence in two or three days for Damascus, visiting 
Palmyra on our way ; this will be a considerable 
saving of time to us. 



LETTER III. 



Departure from Aleppo to Sermein. — Marah.—Hamah, 
-—Horns.— Camp of Mahannah. — Palmyra. — Return 
to Horns. — Arrival at Damascus. 

In the Convent of Damascus, February 17, 181S. 

In my last letter from Aleppo, I think I mentioned 
that we were going to Palmyra by way of Sukne. 
We found, however, that the natives of that place 
were not capable of conducting us with safety to 
Tadmor, and that, moreover, they asked as high a 
price as we had any idea of giving to the Arabs, 
whose protection would have insured the accom- 
plishment of our object. Thus circumstanced we 
prepared for our departure for II am ah, which place 
as well as Horns is only four days' distant from Pal- 
myra, and we had sanguine expectations of suc- 
ceeding in our project from either one or the other 
of these towns; besides the chance I have just no- 
ticed, we had two other strings to our bow, viz. to 
push on to Cariateen, which is only one day from 
Tadmor, and thence to steal there before the 



238 TRAVELS IN [LETTER III. 

Arabs were aware of our intention; or to take 
Turkish post-horses and an escort from Damascus, 
and go in spite of the Arabs ; this last plan, how- 
ever, would have been a very expensive one. But 
before I proceed further, I shall add a few re- 
marks upon Aleppo. The city is pleasantly 
situated in a hollow surrounded by sloping hills, 
which are very uninteresting, having no trees, 
and the land having no inclosures. The houses 
of Aleppo are built of stone ; the streets are 
narrow and ill paved, except the Bazars which 
are all roofed over with arches of the same con- 
struction as the houses, and are lighted from 
above. Thus you can walk all over the town on 
the terraces of the houses ; the arches I have 
mentioned connecting the streets one with the 
other. The Franks avail themselves of this mode 
of communication to visit each other during the 
time of the plague ; we made visits half a mile 
distant in this manner. The Franks and Chris- 
tians have their separate quarters here, the same 
as in all Turkish towns. The city is surrounded 
with gardens, watered by small rivulets drawn 
from the main stream which supplies the town. 
We visited some Turkish houses, and were much 
struck with the beauty of the cielings of the 
apartments, which are decorated by Persian 
artists; they are very curiously gilded and 



LETTER III.] SYRIA. 239 

painted, but to describe them in writing would 
be difficult and uninteresting. The decorations 
in carve-work, on the doors and window-frames, 
are also extremely curious. We assisted Mr. 
Bankes in tracing some of them from copies on 
paper which were lent him. The neat private 
steam-baths and fountains are worthy of notice. 
The society of Aleppo is good : the men and 
women make separate parties to the baths, where 
they have coffee and refreshments, and pass the 
evening. The walls of the city resemble those 
at Antioch; Volney describes the castle and 
other particulars, and as a description of a town 
is at best but a dry subject, I shall refer you to 
him for further particulars. The neighbourhood 
of Aleppo abounds in game, and we were struck 
with admiration at the neat and cleanly appear- 
ance of the butcher's shops, which are equal to 
those of London. 

January 3. We started for Hamah, our kind 
and estimable host, together with his brother, ac- 
companying us on horseback for two hours out- 
side the town. Such had been his solicitude 
in our behalf that he furnished us with letters to 
Selim, the governour's secretary at Hamah, and 
to Scander, the secretary to the motsellim of 
Horns ; he likewise gave us a strong letter of re- 
commendation to Hadgi Hassan, an elderly Turk 



240 TRAVELS IN [LETTER III. 

at Horns, who has great dealings with the Arabs. 
All these people were requested to render us every 
assistance in their power to get to Palmyra. We 
had besides other letters from Mr. Barker to the 
Saraffs of the pasha w of Damascus, urging them to 
assist us in getting post-horses, should we be 
obliged to go in that manner. In addition to these, 
he gave us letters to Acre, Cyprus, and Smyrna ; 
to Sir Robert and Lady Liston, and to several 
other people at Constantinople. He lent us 
Maundrell's Travels in Syria, and a good map of 
Asia Minor and Greece, and furnished us with 
money. 

At sun-set we stopped at the khan Touman, a 
spacious lodging, but which was rilled to excess 
with the caravans for Damascus and Latachia. 
On the following morning we proceeded at day- 
light in company with them, our road lying over 
naked plains partly cultivated. About three in 
the afternoon we stopped at Sermein; there are 
several villages in this quarter, and a few clumps 
of olives, otherwise the country is destitute of 
wood. Mount Cassius, whose summit was by this 
time covered with snow, was in sight on our 
right. 

January 5. We proceeded at sun-rise, intend- 
ing to go with the Latachia caravan as far as 
Shogher, and thence follow up the banks of the 



LETTER III.] SYRIA. 241 

Orontes to Ham all ; but being late, and seeing a 
caravan on our left, we branched out in that di- 
rection, joined it, and found that they were in the 
straight road to Hamah, and that they were 
bound to that place and Damascus ; we therefore 
continued with them. About ten we passed a 
ruined square Turkish fortress enclosing a vil- 
lage. Many of these places, on the skirts of the 
desert, are walled in, as one would suppose to afford 
them protection against the Arabs. Shortly after 
we met a very extensive caravan, being part of the 
hadj or pilgrimage to Mecca on their return from 
Damascus — an interesting sight; they had the green 
flag, the prophet's banner, flying ( 15 ). There were 
few camels, the animals being mostly horses and 
mules, and having all bells attached to them, they 
made a merry, ringing noise ( j6 ). There were 
amongst them several tackterwans, the only species 
of vehicle in the east, which supplies the place of 
four wheel carriages ; we had seen one of them in 
the great Morocco hadj, which arrived at Cario 
in September last; it resembled a sedan chair, 
supported before and behind, with horses instead 
of men ; but those which we saw this day differed 
from it, one being a species of tent-bed placed cross- 
way on the back of a mule, and the other resemb" 
ling two childs' cradles, fitted like panniers on the 
back of a camel. These tackterwans are enclosed 

R 



242 TRAVELS IN [LETTER III. 

with curtains, and are generally used by women 
or sick people. Nearly the whole of this and the 
next day, we passed divisions of the hadj ; all the 
animals were laden with some private venture of 
the pilgrims, as they always make a commerce 
of this expedition ; if you read Volney you will 
see in what estimation even the Turks hold the 
man who has made a hadj. They have an old 
adage among them to this purport, " Beware of 
thy neighbour if he has made a hadj ; but if he 
has made two, quickly prepare to leave thy 
house :" the keenness with which all the peasants, 
near the khans bargain for every thing they sell 
seems to agree with this remark. We saw this 
day some few Roman ruins, and sarcophagi form- 
ed of the stone of the country, apparently of the 
lower empire. At two P, M. we stopped for the 
night atMarah, and slept in a very good khan. The 
ensuing morning we proceeded as before. Leba- 
non, now a mass of snow, lay before us ; and Mount 
Cassius was shut in by the northern extremity 
of the Ansarian mountains. We passed several 
sites of ancient towns, tanks, sarcophagi, &c. 
every thing much dilapidated and uninteresting, 
excepting that they served to shew that the 
neighbourhood was better peopled in former 
times than it is at present. The country was 
still nothing but open plains, without a single 



LETTER III.] SYRIA. 245 

tree, being inhabited by numerous gazelles, par- 
tridges, hares, bustards, &c. We passed the 
night at Khan Shekune situated near an arti- 
ficial hill, several of which we had seen during the 
day ; they resembled those on Salisbury Plain, 
and other parts of England. We found the khan 
good, but very full of people, occasioned by the 
return of the hadj already mentioned. 

January 7. Our road was still through open 
plains partially cultivated, parallel with the range 
of the Ansarian mountains; Lebanon and Anti- 
Lebanon in sight before us ; about three in the 
afternoon we arrived at Hamah. The ap- 
proach for the last hour was pretty enough, de- 
scending into a vale through which the Orontes 
takes a winding course, the banks of which are 
cultivated, wooded, and laid out occasionally in 
gardens on one side, with perpendicular chalky 
cliffs in some parts on the other. Here are 
immense wheels or sackeys turned by the stream 
of the river, to raise the water for the irrigation of 
the soil. Hamah is the Epiphania of the Greeks 
and Romans, though it is, no doubt, the site of 
the ancient Hamath mentioned in various parts of 
scripture ( 17 ), together with Damascus, Lebanon, 
and other contiguous places, it took its name 
from the sons of Canaan, fourth son of Ham, 
the son of Noah, which makes it of very high 



£44 TRAVELS IN [LETTER III. 

antiquity. Hamah is delightfully situated in 
a hollow, between and on the sides of two 
hills, near the west bank of the Orontes, but in 
itself presents nothing worthy of notice at this 
day. We took up our quarters in a khan, and as 
these buildings in the towns differ considerably 
from those on the road side, I will give you a 
description of the former. Like the latter, they 
surround an open square, but are differently 
constructed, being meant for travellers and mer- 
chants to lodge in during the time they remain 
in the towns to dispose of their merchandise, or 
settle any private affairs they may have to trans- 
act; whereas the khans on the road side are only 
intended for a night's lodging, and security for 
the traveller and his animals. In these the 
squares are formed in open piazzas in which men 
and animals indiscriminately take up their abode, 
there being no division into apartments, cells, or 
any detached chamber whatever ; for this accom- 
modation no payment is required. The khans in the 
towns, instead of the open piazzas, are furnished all 
round with two stories of small apartments, each 
chamber, or rather cell, being about twelve feet 
square, with a door (the key of which is given 
you), and an iron-barred window with wooden 
shutters but no glass. I suspect they were ori- 
ginally intended as a gratuitous lodging for tra- 



LETTER III.] SYRIA. 245 

vellers, the same as those on the high-roads and 
in the villages, but as they have only one small 
entrance, and are thereby the most secure places 
in the towns, the lower rooms are generally filled 
with merchandize of the different resident proprie- 
tors. In front of these are arched piazzas for the 
horses, mules, &c. &c. and also a balcony or ter- 
race, with wooden railing, fronting the upper 
row of cells, which are all totally unfurnished, 
being nothing but bare walls; and for a mat to 
lie on, cooking utensils, fuel, &c. these must be 
the care of the occupier. There is a porter who 
generally rents the khan, and in the day time 
attends the gate, which is locked up at night ; he 
makes his profit by the fees from travellers, and 
also by the merchandize which is lodged within. 
We paid two piastres (1$. 5d.) for admittance, or 
as it is termed for the key of our room, four paras 
(one penny English) per day for the lodging, and 
one para per day for each horse. As for provision 
we always got that from the market, and cooked 
in our own room, making excellent soup, roast, 
&c. Our principal meat was mutton, as the 
Turks do not eat much beef, and therefore it is 
never good. While at Hamah we received a 
letter from Mr. Barker by an express messenger 
from Aleppo, together with a firman from the 
grand Seignior, which Mr. B. had written for to 



Q46 TRAVELS IN [LETTER III. 

Sir Robert Liston shortly after our arrival in the 
latter end of November. This firman empowers us 
to go with four servants through Syria, Cyprus, 
the islands of the Archipelago, Smyrna, Adana, 
Karaman, Karahissar, Kiutaya, to Broussa, and 
from thence to Constantinople ; we are to be 
treated in the most friendly manner, offered 
every assistance, security, and protection, accord- 
ing to the imperial capitulations, and furnished 
with all necessary escorts whenever occasion may 
require. We witnessed a melancholy scene the few 
last days we were here : there arrived one evening 
four shabby-looking,ill-dressed Turks, attired some- 
what like soldiers, and an elderly knave better 
clad, though no better looking than the others. 
These people brought with them eleven Georgian 
girls, the remnant of between forty and fifty, as 
we were informed, whom they had stolen or kid- 
napped from their parents on the confines of 
Georgia ; they were brought to be sold as slaves 
or mistresses to such wealthy Turks as could 
afford to bid high sums for such unfortunate 
victims. These poor girls were lodged in the 
cells contiguous to ours ; they were mostly 
between fifteen and twenty years of age ; two 
were younger, being about twelve. They were 
all exceedingly pretty, with black sparkling eyes, 
rosy cheeks, long black hair, and very fair com- 



LETTER III.] SYRIA. 247 

plexions, giving a very strong contradiction to 
the account which Volney writes of the Georgian 
and Circassian women, where he says " that their 
fame for beauty arises more from the fancy of 
travellers, heightened by the difficulty they have 
always found to get a sight of them, than from 
any real merit they possess in this respect." The 
prices which were demanded and offered for 
these girls, is the best proof of the estimation in 
which they are held by the Turks, especially 
when it is known that these people are allowed a 
plurality of wives. We were present at the 
bidding for one girl by a rich Turk, when fourteen 
purses, each purse being five hundred piastres 
(18/.), were demanded, and although he offered 
ten, they would not abate one para ; the poor 
girl, who was about fifteen, standing up all the 
while, and hearing the disputes about her pur- 
chase. They were all taken out four different 
times, and conducted through the town to the 
rich Turkish houses to be viewed and bid for, the 
same as any other merchandize ; and on two oc- 
casions considerable parties of the principal inha- 
bitants came to our khan, and examined and bid 
for the unhappy creatures at the door of their 
cells ; they being obliged to stand up in a row, 
while their several merits were discussed by the 
rival bidders. We saw several candidates for 



248 TRAVELS IN [LETTER III. 

purchasing, of upwards of fifty years of age, 
while the friendless object of his choice was only 
fifteen. The diet of these poor unfortunates, 
considering their sex, was of a character with the 
rest of their treatment, consisting only of a loaf 
of bread and a small piece of cheese twice a day ; 
and although we were buying oranges, at only 
two paras (a halfpenny) each, we never saw one 
amongst them all. Whenever the owners went 
abroad they locked their charge up in the cells, 
and carried away the key. Being returned from 
one of their tours through the town, we heard 
some bitter lamenting in the cell next to ours, and 
found that it proceeded from one of the young 
girls being about to be sold, and consequently 
separated from her sister and companions. The 
mode of conducting these girls from town to town 
is on horseback ; in this manner they had been 
brought from Georgia, being exposed for sale at 
all the principal towns as they came along; they 
were now destined for Damascus, where it was 
thought a good mart would be found for them; 
they set out on their melancholy journey two 
days before we did. Bruce has given some ac- 
count of the Georgian and Circassian women, 
which you can read and compare with this ; I 
think in this instance he comes much nearer the 
truth than Volney. 



LETTER III.] SYRIA. 249 

Nothing else of consequence occurring while 
we were at Ham ah, excepting our negociations 
with the Arabs, in order to reach Palmyra, I 
shall now describe them ; shortly after arriving, 
our Maltese interpreter, in conveying our letter 
of introduction to Selim, the governour's secretary, 
met at the house of the latter a man named 
Pierre, of Dar-el-Camar, in the employ of Lady 
Hester Stanhope, by whom he had been sent, as 
he said, to fetch two horses that had been pre- 
sented to Lady H. by the governours of Horns 
and Hamah ; he was also charged with a present 
of one hundred piastres to Narsah, the chief of 
the Annasee Arabs. Pierre, who returned with 
our interpreter, said that he had accompanied 
Lady Hester to Palmyra and was acquainted with 
the Arab chiefs, and that it was he who made the 
bargain for Mr. Bankes, who was obliged to pay 
one thousand two hundred piastres, besides being 
sent back once by Narsah, and kept in confine- 
ment by Sheikh Hamed, his younger brother, at 
Palmyra, by which he extorted two hundred 
piastres from Mr. Bankes. Selim, as well as 
Scander, being both absent at Damascus, we 
were at some difficulty how to proceed, but 
resolved, however, to await the return of Selim, 
as Pierre expected he would be back in a few 
days. We had much conversation about the 



250 TRAVELS IN [LETTER III. 

Arabs with Pierre, and about the prices which 
travellers had at different times paid for visiting 
Palmyra ; for although we were determined to go 
coute qui coute, we still determined to dispute 
and fight as hard a battle as we could, pretending 
at the same time to be very indifferent about it. 
We soon saw that if this man assisted us, he 
would at least make us pay as much money as he 
could, for he talked of two, three, four, and even 
six hundred piastres as nothing. We, however, 
told him that four hundred was the utmost we 
would pay, and informed him of our knowledge 
of Sir William Chatterton and Mr. Leslie having 
visited Palmyra, by Cariateen, for only one hun- 
dred piastres, while the Arabs were employed in 
making extravagant demands of Mr. Bankes. 
Pierre, on hearing this, observed, " that if Sir W. 
C. and Mr. L. had gone in this manner, they had 
stolen to Tadmor." Perceiving that he was not 
inclined to make for us a moderate bargain, we 
were undetermined what course to pursue ; as we 
made no doubt that he would at all events give in- 
formation to the Arabs of our arrival, and of our 
wish to visit Palmyra. In the meantime a Chris- 
tian who lives at Horns came to us, asserting, that 
there was no difficulty in getting to the object 
of our wishes, and that he was acquainted with 
two others of his sect at Horns, who with himself 



LETTER III.] SYRIA. 251 

would answer for conducting us upon asses, at 
a moderate price, and without any danger from 
the Arabs. We did not place very implicit con- 
fidence in his account, particularly as we knew 
that our departed friend, Sheikh Ibrahim, had 
been robbed and stripped in his first attempt, 
and we had Mr. Bankes' fate also before us; but 
as time was passing away, and we were doing 
nothing, we decided on going with the above- 
mentioned Christian to Horns, telling Pierre, and 
every body else to whom we spoke on the subject, 
that we had given up all idea of going to Palmyra, 
in consequence of the expense attending it, and 
had decided on pursuing our journey to Damascus 
and Jerusalem. 

January 1 6. We had intended to set out in the 
morning. It however turned out very wet weather 
that day, and we did not accompany the man, as 
we had no idea of getting wet through on such 
an uncertain excursion; but we promised him 
to follow whenever it became clear weather. 
During the afternoon Pierre visited us and ap- 
peared to be much surprised that we had not 
set out for Damascus ; we told him that we were 
solely prevented from quitting Hamah by the 
rain. He made no further observation, but 
shortly after retired, and in about half an hour 



%5Q TRAVELS IN [LETTER lift 

more returned with five Arabs whom he said he 
had brought to us that we might make a bargain 
with them for going to Palmyra. The chief of 
these was Shiekh Salee, nephew to Mahannah, 
a lad about fourteen or fifteen years of age, very 
dirty and ill-dressed, with a sheep skin cloak: he 
sat down in our room with great composure, as 
did his four companions, three of whom were 
blacks ; while smoking their pipes, they examined 
every thing in our apartment with great atten- 
tion, but we had purposely hid whatever was 
likely to attract notice, or give an idea of riches. 
Their first demand was three thousand piastres, 
at which we burst out into an immoderate fit of 
laughter; they then came down to two thousand, 
but we remained fixed at four hundred : at last 
they lowered to eight hundred. The lad now 
made signs that we should be robbed ; we shewed 
all we meant to take with us, and said it was 
not worth fifty piastres, which indeed was true 
enough. He then made signs that we should 
have our throats cut; we told him that neither 
he, Mahannah, nor any of his tribe would dare 
touch a Frank, furnished as we were with the 
imperial firman, which he knew we had, though 
they do not care much for the Grand Seignior; it 
was not a little remarkable to hear such threats 



LETTER III.] SYRIA. 253 

from a boy only fourteen years of age. At last 
they quitted us altogether, saying, they must have 
eight hundred or none: after some deliberation, 
seeing they were gone in earnest, we sent to give 
them six hundred as our ultimatum, the hire of 
the camels which were to carry us included; but 
nothing to be paid until our safe return to Hai?iah. 
After much prevarication, during which they 
endeavoured to make us pay for the camels 
extra, they at length consented to our terms, as 
they said, " for the love of the Malaka" or queen, 
for such they were pleased to call Lady Hester 
Stanhope, who gave five hundred pounds for this 
trip ; had we paid them as much money, no doubt 
they would have called us two kings, for like the 
Nubians flus (money) is their idol. The next 
morning we sent to the Aga to have the treaty 
ratified in writing. They now demanded three 
hundred piastres in advance; we positively re- 
fused paying a para until our safe return; 
and, finally, the Aga declined being responsible 
unless Mahannah or Narsah sent a written docu- 
ment to say we might pass safely. Thus the 
affair remained till the morning of the nineteenth, 
the Arabs having, however, come to us once in 
the mean time, to endeavour to prevail on us to 
give them three, two, or even one hundred 
piastres in advance; but as the smallest sum paid 



'254 TRAVELS IN [LETTER III. 

before hand would have placed us in some mea- 
sure in their power, and rendered our journey 
uncertain, we persisted in refusing. 

January 1Q. We removed to Horns, no mes- 
sage from Mahannah having arrived ; Pierre 
followed us. We left Hamah at dawn of day, 
and arrived in about eight hours, the road leading 
still through rich plains destitute of wood. There 
is only one variety, viz. about half way we 
crossed the Orontes, now diminished in breadth 
to a paltry stream ; the river here winds much 
through a chasm. There is a bridge of thirteen 
arches, and the water being kept up for the pur- 
pose of turning a mill, together with a cascade 
which it forms, a khan, the village of Rastan, 
which stands near it, and a few trees on the 
immediate bank of the rivulet, altogether make 
it rather a pretty spot. Rastan stands on an 
eminence near the bridge, and the ancient Are- 
thusia adjoins it, presenting a sight of more 
interest than we had lately been accustomed to, 
though nothing remains perfect ; part of the 
walls, the line of the streets, and the pedestals of 
some columns being alone remarkable. Settled 
in a khan at Horns. We had, on the twentieth, 
some conversation with the Christian we had seen 
at Hamah ; but it appeared evident he was un- 
dertaking a business he did not know how to 



LETTER III.] SYRIA. 255 

execute. In the evening one of the Arabs who 
had visited us with Shiekh Salee, came with a 
letter from Sheikh Narsah, who, he said, was en- 
camped one day's journey from Palmyra ; this 
letter stated, " That Narsah had heard of our 
t£ arrival in Hainan, and of our wish to visit 
" Tadmor ; that he expected by the twenty- 
" fourth, that the Fidon and Isbaah Arabs, under 
" Shiekh Haleel, and who were at war with the 
" Annasees, would be removed from the neigh- 
u bourhood of Palmyra, and that at the expi- 
" ration of that time he would come to Horns 
" with three camels to conduct us." This story 
we had afterwards reason to believe was a fiction, 
to persuade us of the absolute necessity of his 
protection ; in the mean time he desired we 
would give the bearer twenty piastres ; upon this 
we made great difficulties, as our departure not 
being yet completely settled, their remained some 
chance of our being cheated out of it ; and we 
had an idea that if we shewed an easy compliance 
in giving money, we might soon receive an order 
for some thousands ; in short, finding how tar- 
dily affairs were going on, we resolved to set out 
the next morning and walk, determining to call 
on Narsah on our way. To this plan the Arab 
consented, and every thing was agreed on, 
he swearing the most sacred oaths that all 



256 TRAVELS IN [LETTER III. 

should go on well, and that we should have one 
ass to carry our bread, water, and sheep-skin 
coats. 

January 21. This morning the man appeared 
again, saying, he could not take us, as he feared 
Narsah would cut off his head for having under- 
taken the business without express orders ; 
therefore after much prevarication, this last ar- 
rangement also terminated unfavourably, and the 
Arab set off a second time for the camp of Ma- 
hannah, to bring the camels as soon as possible, 
and apprize his chief that we had removed to 
Horns. In the afternoon it came on to blow 
hard, with continued squalls of snow, sleet, and 
rain, and as we were to have set off that morning 
on our walking trip, we were not sorry of 
our failure in this instance. As the bad 
weather continued without intermission night 
and day till the twenty-fourth, in the evening, 
when the man returned from Mahannah with the 
three camels, we could not arrange for starting 
till the twenty-sixth, as the motsellim (governour) 
being busy taking an inventory of the decapi- 
tated pasha w's effects, could not ratify the 
bargain. For an account of the arbitrary pro- 
ceedings of the Turkish government towards 
suspected individuals, I refer you to Volney. In 
this instance, the sufferer had been appointed 



LETTER III.] SYRIA. 257 

to the command of the hadj, and had set off 
from Constantinople. While he was on his 
return from Mecca, a khat-sherriffe was dis- 
patched from the capital, ordering his head to be 
cut off and sent immediately to Constantinople ; 
his sentence was carried into execution before he 
reached Damascus ( 1B ). We hear that this man 
was accused of intriguing with the Russians 
against the state. We paid three hundred 
piastres into the hands of Hadji Hassan, as part 
payment to the Arab sheikhs, but it was agreed 
that they should not themselves receive any 
portion of it till our safe return to Horns. Sheikh 
Narsah's order was, that we should pay all before 
starting ; but we persisted in refusing, and more- 
over, we made the Arabs consent, before ample 
witnesses, that no further demands were to be 
made upon us, exclusive of the six hundred 
piastres, on any pretence whatever. The mot- 
sellim, who like all the Turks, had a great, and as 
you will observe in the sequel, unnecessary dread 
of these people, observed, " why will you trust 
yourselves amongst the Arabs, suppose they should 
destroy you ?" 

January 26. At one in the afternoon, after 
nineteen days' negociation, either at Hamah or 
Horns, we were on rout with our three camels 
and as many conductors, with two skin bottles 

s 



258 TRAVELS IN [LETTER III. 

(see Judges, iv. 19, "a bottle of milk), into which 
they had run the melted butter, bought with Lady 
Hester's present. We proved to them before 
departing that we had not a para in our pockets, 
thus preventing any temptation to pilfer ; all our 
baggage consisted of a sheep-skin coat, the 
woolly side in, and the other side coloured red 
with ochre, and greased to keep out the rain ( 1Q ). 
We went five hours, our guides singing nearly 
the whole time a favourite Arab song. Arriving 
at a Bedouin camp, we had some scruples about 
entering a tent, expecting they would have had 
many objections against receiving us ; instead of 
which, to our surprise, we were welcomed by 
both men and women ; the latter smiling, said, 
we were Frangi (Franks), and retired to their 
part of the tent to prepare supper. 

January 27- Being regaled with a breakfast, 
we proceeded at eight and marched till four in 
the afternoon, stopping at another Arab camp, 
where we were again well received. 

January 28. We started at dawn of day, and 
met with many dwarf trees, of which the country 
had hitherto been destitute ; it now resembled a 
heath with a plentiful stock of aromatic shrubs, 
and occasional hill and dale. We followed no 
particular road or track, but our general direc- 
tion appeared to be east. We had this morning 



LETTER IIL] SYRIA. 25.9 

a striking instance of the value the Arab sets on 
his time, and of his impatience to accomplish a 
journey when once undertaken. Suddenly one of 
our party quitting us, hastened on in advance, and 
was soon out of sight ; shortly after, on coming 
up with him we found he had collected brush- 
wood and made a blazing fire ; presently some but- 
ter was melted and sweetened with honey. In this 
we dipped our bread which w r e had brought ; and 
what with the Arab's voracious mode of eating, 
and these time-saving measures, our breakfast 
did not detain us above ten minutes. The same 
hurry was subsequently shewn on our wanting to 
drink some water from a small crevice in the rock 
close to us ; we were prohibited and told there 
was plenty before us ; but as the camps were 
hours in advance to our knowledge, we were not 
to be controlled, and dismounting, quenched our 
thirst. The soil was excessively rich, but we saw 
no water, and all species of cultivation had ceased 
a few hours from Horns. We could not help 
laughing at our principal guide, who with a rusty 
old match-lock and no powder, pretended to be 
very vigilant in reconnoitring from all the heights 
for harami (robbers), while we knew that he and 
his companions were of the most timid nature, 
and that to their knowledge we were going with 
the sanction, and under the protection of their own 



260 TRAVELS IN [LETTER HI. 

chiefs, who commanded the whole country. At 
noon we saw a wild boar, so large that we at first 
took him for an ass. About four in the after- 
noon we opened the valley in which Mahannah's 
camp was pitched. The Arabs were obliged to 
inquire before they could find out the direction 
of the camp, and as they had only been absent a 
few days, some idea may be formed from this cir- 
cumstance of the difficuly of attacking the tribes 
in the desert. As we approached, we beheld a 
very animated and busy scene ; the girls were 
singing, and the children busied in running down 
the young partridges ( 20 ) with dogs, as they were 
as yet only able to fly a short distance at a time. 
Presently we heard a hue and cry from all quar- 
ters, and soon perceived a large wild boar, with 
his bristles erect, beset by all the dogs ; every 
body running eagerly to the pursuit. He was 
found behind one of the tents ; they chased him 
all through the camp, and two Arabs on horse- 
back, with spears, soon joined in the pursuit. The 
animal, however, kept both men and dogs at bay, 
and finally got off with only one wound. We 
now approached the sheikh's tent and found Ma- 
hannah with his two sons, Sheikhs Narsah and 
Hamed, together with about thirty Arab chiefs 
of various camps seated round an immense fire ; 
Sheikh Narsah was leaning on a camel's saddle^ 



LETTER III.] SYRIA. c 26 Y 

their customary cushion ; he did not rise to re- 
ceive us, although we afterwards observed that 
he and the whole circle rose whenever a strange 
sheikh arrived. We attributed this cool recep- 
tion to the low estimation he held us in, in con- 
sequence of the unusually small sum we had paid 
for visiting Palmyra, and from the plainness of 
our dress and appearance. All the assembly kept 
up a most profound silence, while Narsah alone ad- 
dressed us. Mahannah, his father, was a short, 
crooked-backed, mean-looking old man, between 
seventy and eighty years of age, dressed in a com- 
mon sort of robe ; his son, Narsah, to whom he 
had, in consequence of his age, resigned the reins 
of government, was a good looking man about 
thirty years of age, with very dignified and en- 
gaging manners. He had the Koran open in his 
hand when we arrived, as we suppose to give us 
an idea of his learning. He was well dressed with 
a red pelisse and an enormous white turban ; we 
observed much whispering going forward between 
Narsah and every stranger that arrived, evincing 
a distrust of those near him, and all our guides 
were separately questioned in the same manner, 
as we suppose to learn whether we had much 
money or not ; he also asked us why the English 
wished so much to see Palmyra ; and whether we 
were not going to search for gold ? We told him 



262 TRAVELS IN [LETTER III. 

he should have half of any we might find there. 
It appeared they had only arrived the day be- 
fore,, as they are constantly shifting their quar- 
ters, in order to provide food for their numerous 
camels, sheep, and goats ; the scarcity of water 
and dryness of the pasturage prevents them from 
having cows and oxen. As the evening advanced, 
the Arab guests increased to the number of fifty, 
all giving way as new faces arrived ; their mode 
of saluting their chiefs is by kissing either cheek 
alternately ( 21 ), and not the hand as in Nubia. 
Narsah questioned us about Buonaparte and the 
occupation of France by the allied troops; I sus- 
pect his knowledge of these matters proceeded 
from his correspondence with Lady Hester Stan- 
hope. Inquiring after Sheikh Hamedy, a hand- 
some young man apparently between twenty and 
twenty-five years of age, with evident confusion 
in his countenance, acknowledged himself as the 
person ; at the same time remarking that we had 
probably heard a bad account of him, but that 
the reports to his prejudice were not correct ; this 
man confined Mr. Bankes a day, and obliged him 
to pay two hundred piastres exclusive of the one 
thousand two hundred he paid to Narsah for 
visiting Palmyra. Some of the partridges which 
the children had caught, were now brought in; 
they roasted them on the fire, and part was given 



LETTER III.] SYRIA. 9,63 

to us ; Sheikh Hamedy throwing a leg and a wing 
to each of us. They afterwards gave us some 
honey and butter together, with bread to dip in 
it ( 22 ), Narsah desiring one of his men to mix the 
two ingredients for us, as we were aukw ardat it ; 
the Arab, having stirred the mixture up well with 
his fingers, shewed his dexterity at consuming as 
well as mixing, and recompensed himself for his 
trouble by eating half of it. Both at sun-set and at 
eight o'clock, the whole assembly were summoned 
to prayers, a man standing outside the tent and 
calling them to their devotions, in the same manner 
as is done from the minarets of the mosques of 
Turkish towns ; each man rubbed his face over 
with sand, a heap of which was placed in front of 
the tent for that purpose, to serve as a substi- 
tute for water for their religious ablutions ; we 
could not but admire the decorous solemnity with 
which they all joined in the divine worship, stand- 
ing in a row and bowing down and kissing the 
ground together ( 23 ). An immense platter of roast 
mutton was then brought in for supper, with 
pillaw of rice ; the assembly fed apart, while a 
separate portion was brought for Narsah and us. 
We observed the elderly men gave their half- 
gnawed bones to those around them, and were 
told that they have a complimentary adage in 
favour of him who doeth so. A black slave was 



£64 TRAVELS IN [LETTER III. 

perpetually pounding coffee from the moment we 
entered the tent till we went to sleep, and as he 
began in the morning at day-light, and was con- 
stantly employed, it would seem that the con- 
sumption in this article must be considerable. 
Late at night Narsah began to address the whole 
circle of sheikhs, who we found had been convened 
in order that they might hear his request, that 
some portions of grazing land, called " the 
Cottons," might be delivered up to him. Being 
tired with the length of his discourse, we removed 
to a corner of the tent and fell asleep ; we heard 
afterwards that his harangue lasted till three in 
the morning. On the following day we wished 
to proceed according to a promise which Narsah 
had given the preceding evening, Alia Raschid 
(by his head), lifting up his hand at the same 
time ( 24 ), to let us depart before sun-rise ; 
but as the chief had sat up so late he did not 
make his appearance till about ten o'clock, when 
instead of letting us go, he desired we would 
follow him ; and presently proceeding to a small 
vale contiguous to his tent, we found the Arabs 
assembling from all quarters and following us in 
great numbers. We were quite at a loss to know 
the meaning of all this; at first we thought it 
was intended to shew off the numbers of his 
people ; presently, however, we came to a tent, 



LETTER III.] SYRIA. 9,65 

and found an immense feast of rice and camel's 
flesh prepared for the whole assembly. We 
were conducted to a smaller tent apart, and had 
our share sent to us; we were in doubt what 
object the sheikh had in thus separating us; 
whether it was meant as an accommodation to us 
that we might eat more comfortably and freely 
by ourselves, than in the midst of so great a 
concourse of people, or whether he thought we 
were not fit society for him. Our dress was 
certainly of a much meaner description than that 
of any of the sheikhs ; and as throughout the 
east a stranger is generally estimated according 
to the dress he wears, it is probable that our homely 
appearance had some weight with Narsah on this 
occasion. We found the meat both savoury and 
tender, being part of the hump, which is consi- 
dered the best ; there was little fat, and the grain 
was remarkably coarse; however we made a 
hearty breakfast. The feast was conducted with 
much order and decorum; the sheikhs fed apart 
in a double row, with several immense platters 
placed at equal distances between them, and a rope 
line was drawn round to keep the people from 
pressing in. Narsah was at the head of the row, 
with a small select circle, amongst whom we 
were called after we had breakfasted, he having 
perceived us amongst the spectators. When the 



266 TRAVELS IN [LETTER III. 

sheikhs had finished, the people were regaled 
with the remains; independent of which, portions 
(see Esther, ix. 19, " sending portions") were 
distributed to the different tents of the camp, 
which consisted of about two hundred; this 
latter arrangement was for the women and 
children ( 25 ). We believe that several camels 
were cooked from the immense quantities of 
meat we saw. This feast was no doubt intended 
to give weight to the proceedings of the former 
evening. We were here asked whether Christians 
did not not eat pig's flesh ; and answering in the 
affirmative, were questioned if we did not also 
drink sow's milk, as they do camels ( 26 ); this, 
however, we stoutly denied. Mahannah made 
many signs for money, both for himself and 
Sheikh Alii, a very handsome little boy about 
five years of age, the son of Narsah; the Arab 
* sign for money is rubbing the fore finger and 
thumb together. About eleven we set out, our 
camels were changed for dromedaries of a heavy 
sort, which set off with us at full trot up hill and 
down dale, each of us having his Arab conductor 
mounted behind him. We had now an addition 
to our party; one of Narsah's men, who was 
called a guard, accompanying us, mounted on a 
white dromedary, decorated with tassels, and 
armed with another old match-lock gun. We 



LETTER III.] SYRIA. 267 

continued till four o'clock in the afternoon, and 
slept in an Arab tent as usual. We found the 
pace of the animals, on level ground and up hill, 
good enough, but in descending we were dread- 
fully jolted. 

January 30. At dawn we proceeded, our 
new guard had endeavoured to make us start at 
midnight, but we would not submit to this, as 
the nights were very cold and frosty. We trotted 
this day at the same rate as the preceding, and 
were jolted and bruised almost beyond endurance. 
At two in the afternoon we arrived at the object 
of our wishes ; our useful guard having previously 
lighted the match of his gun and gone through 
the motions of loading without ammunition. 

On opening the ruins of Palmyra, as seen from 
the Valley of the Tombs, we were much struck 
with the picturesque effect of the whole, pre- 
senting altogether the most imposing sight of the 
kind we had ever seen ; and it was rendered doubly 
interesting by our having travelled through a 
wilderness destitute of a single building, and 
from which we suddenly opened upon these in- 
numerable columns and other ruins on a sandy 
plain, on the skirts of the desert ; their snow- 
white appearance contrasted with the yellow 
sand produced a very striking effect. Great, 
however, was our disappointment, when on a 



268 TRAVELS IN [LETTER III, 

minute examination, we found that there was not 
a single column, pediment, architrave, portal, 
frieze, or any architectural remnant worthy of 
admiration. None of the columns exceeded in 
diameter four feet, or in height forty feet ; dimen- 
sions but ill calculated to give an idea of the 
sublime, at least according to Longinus. Those 
of the boasted avenue had little more than thirty 
feet of altitude ; the epistylium is in no instance 
ornamented with any carved-work, excepting 
now and then an ill executed cornice. The 
plates of Wood and Dawkins are certainly well 
executed, but they have done but too much 
justice to the originals; taken as a tout ensemble, 
these ruins are certainly more remarkable, by 
reason of their extent, (being nearly a mile and a 
half in length), than any we have hitherto met 
with, and they are, moreover, less encumbered by 
modern fabrics than any we have witnessed ; for 
exclusive of the Arab village of Tadmor, which 
occupies the peristyle court of the Temple of the 
Sun, and the Turkish burying place, there are no 
obstructions whatever to the antiquities. Take 
any part of the ruins separately, and they excite 
but little interest ; and altogether, we judged the 
visit to Palmyra hardly worthy of the time, 
expense, anxiety, and fatiguing journey through 
the wilderness, which we had undergone to visit 



LETTER III.] SYRIA. 9,69 

them. The projecting pedestals in the centre of 
the columns of the great avenue have a very 
unsightly appearance ; there is also a great 
sameness in the architecture, all the capitals 
heing Corinthian, excepting those which surround 
the Temple of the Sun. These last are fluted, 
and when decorated with their brazen Ionic 
capitals, were doubtless very handsome ; but the 
latter being now deficient, the beauty of the 
edifice is entirely destroyed. The sculpture, as 
well of the capitals of the columns, as of the other 
ornamental parts of the door-ways and buildings, 
is very coarse and bad ; although the designs 
are generally correct in the work of Wood and 
Dawkins, we found that the execution of the 
sculpture is far inferior to what might have 
been expected from the engravings. The three 
arches at the end of the avenue nearest the 
Temple of the Sun, so beautiful in the designs, 
are excessively insignificant ; the decorated frieze 
thereof, although handsome in the plates, is very 
badly wrought ; and in this instance, even the de- 
vices are not striking; they are not to be compared 
to the common portals of Thebes, although the 
Egyptians were unacquainted with the arch. 
Every thing here is built of a very perishable 
stone ; if it deserves the name of marble, it is very 
inferior even to that of Baalbec ; and we are 



270 TRAVELS IN [LETTER III. 

inclined to think the ruins of the latter place are 
much more worthy the traveller's notice than 
those of Palmyra. We suspect that it is the 
difficulty of getting to Tadmor, and consequently 
the few people that have been there, that has 
given rise to the great renown of the ruins of 
Palmyra. We give the preference to Baalbec, 
not only for the general superiority of the sculp- 
ture, but also for the extraordinary massive 
.structure of the buildings ; and while the columns 
of Baalbec have nearly sixty feet in height, and 
seven in diameter, supporting a most rich and 
beautifully wrought epistylium of twenty feet more, 
the pillars being built of only three pieces of stone ; 
the smallest columns at Palmyra (three feet and a 
half in diameter and thirty feet high) are formed 
of six, seven, and even eight parts ; although those 
which surround the peristyle court of the Temple 
of the Sun may be about forty feet high, and 
four feet diameter, are formed of only three 
and four stones ; there are in the centre of the 
avenue four granite columns, each of one single 
stone, about thirty feet high ; only one is still 
standing. We found the Tombs very interesting ; 
their construction is different from any thing we 
had elsewhere seen. They consist of a number 
of square towers, three, four, and five stories 
high ; they are situated without the walls of the 



LETTER III.J SYRIA. c 27 1 

ancient city. The best remaining are on 
each side of the valley which leads to Horns 
and Hamah. These towers are not orna- 
mented on the exterior, with the exception of a 
tablet whereon is a Greek inscription (certainly 
copied by Wood and Dawkins) and a few figures 
in basso-relievo over the door. There are gene- 
raly five sepulchral chambers one over the other, 
and on each side are eight recesses, each divided 
into four or five parts, for the reception of corpses ; 
the lower chamber, in some instances, fronts 
an excavation in the side of the hill contiguous 
to it. The best of these lower apartments which 
we saw are very handsome, the sides being 
ornamented with sculpture and fluted Corinthian 
pilasters, though the walls were plain white 
stucco, without any figures or emblematical re- 
presentation. The cieling, on which the paint 
is still very perfect, is ornamented like that of the 
peristyle court of the Temple of the Sun at 
Baalbec, with the heads of different heathen 
deities, and disposed in diamond-shaped divisions. 
We were much interested by the remains of some 
of the mummies and mummy cloths, which 
appear to have been preserved very much after 
the manner of the Egyptians, only that the gum 
had lost all that odour, resembling frankincense, 
which we noticed in Egypt. We found a hand 



272 TRAVELS IN [LETTER III. 

in tolerable preservation ; but after all, you must 
not imagine that these sepulchres are in any way 
so interesting as those of Egypt. You here look 
in vain for those beautiful paintings, &c. which so 
well pourtray the manners and customs of the 
ancients. Over the inside of the door- way, we saw 
a tablet in basso-relievo, of seven or eight standing 
figures dressed in long robes, with their hands on 
their breasts ; we suppose them to have been 
priests ; and we also noticed a sarcophagus, with 
the sides ornamented much in the same manner. 
We observed the marble folding doors, still 
erect, of some of the grander tombs situated 
in the town; these latter are much dilapidated; 
the doors were carved in pannels, but ill ex- 
ecuted and unpolished. The lines of the streets 
and foundations of the houses of Palmyra are 
very distinguishable in some places. We agree 
with Mr. Bankes, that many of the small 
square rows of columns which Wood and Daw- 
kins suppose to have inclosed temples, were 
no other than the open court of private edifices 
which inclosed fountains; and Mr. B. was more 
led to suspect this, from there being one of only 
four columns, which never could have inclosed a 
temple or solid building within it. These ideas 
were suggested to him by his having noticed 
similar remains at Pompeii. Passing down the 



LETTER III.] SYRIA. 273 

great avenue of columns there is a door- way 
standing on the right hand, and within it are 
the remains of the building it belonged to, having 
an Hebrew inscription on the architrave, interest- 
ing on three accounts; first, as the foundation 
of Tadmor was by Solomon ; second, as Zenobia 
is said by some to have been of the Jewish 
religion; and third, as Bishop Riddle sets down 
two thousand Jews at Tadmor in his day. This 
was a discovery of, and information we received 
from, Mr. Bankes. There is at Palmyra a tepid 
spring of mineral water, having a strong sulphu- 
reous taste and smell; a subterraneous aqueduct 
supplied the town. There is a great quantity of 
salt in the desert adjoining Tadmor, which forms 
a lucrative branch of commerce to the present 
natives. After the complete work of Wood and 
Dawkins, I need not trouble you with any further 
remarks on Palmyra. 

January 31. Having finished our examination 
of the ruins, we started at two, and continued till 
ten at night, when we slept at an Arab tent as 
usual. After dark the Arabs implored us not to 
sing for fear the robbers should hear us, and ap- 
peared to be as fearful in their own desert, as it 
was possible for a stranger to be. 

February 1. We moved at sun-rise, and did 
not reach Mahannah's camp until dark in the 

T 



274 TRAVELS IN [LETTER III. 

evening; we were conducted back by another 
road, and met with two parties of his people on 
horseback, one of seven and the other of twelve, 
mostly armed with spears; we also met a small 
party on dromedaries richly caparisoned ( 27 ), and 
as we thought purposely sent to shew his power; 
they asked us in passing how much we had paid 
for visiting Palmyra, taking it as a thing of 
course that we were obliged to give money ; our 
change of road naturally gave some mystery to 
our proceeding. On our arrival at the camp, old 
Mahannah came out of his tent and began 
feeling the saddles, and took from the poor 
Arabs all the salt which they had purchased at 
Palmyra. We were pretty well received by 
the chiefs ; Narsah had on the old robe this time, 
and the father the new one. We soon found 
out the meaning of this, when the former asked 
our interpreter to request that we would give 
him a new dress; but the latter said it was a 
thing impossible, as we had made our bargain 
for six hundred piastres only. We begged, and 
obtained a promise to depart early in the morn- 
ing, Narsah saying, he had only to write a letter 
to the King of England, which we were to take 
with us; he sent one to his dear friend Lady 
Hester, with whom they all seem to be enchant- 
ed. They call her ff El Malaka/' (the queen) ; 



LETTER III.] SYRIA. 275 

some say she is a Bint-el Sultan" (daughter of 
the king), and others favour her with the appella- 
tion of the Virgin Mary ( 28 ). 

February 2. In the morning we were detained 
until nine o'clock, and had very much difficulty 
in procuring a draught of water before starting ; 
but we absolutely refused to move without it ( 29 ). 
In consequence of this detention we were at the 
end of the day's journey benighted, and had a 
bitter cold bivouack in the open air, the Arabs 
being afraid even to light a fire. We however 
managed to lay down between two of our ca- 
mels, which, from their kneeling posture, kept 
some of the cold air off, sleeping was out of the 
question, as it was freezing hard, with a strong, cut- 
ting wind ( 30 ). The following morning, at dawn, 
we were on route; we saw twenty-three white 
gazelles, and witnessed the removal of an Arab 
camp; the moveables being all placed on the 
camels' backs; the women with their children 
slung over their shoulders, and the flocks follow- 
ing, presented altogether an interesting sight. 
We breakfasted at a small encampment off a 
thick mess of lentiles and bread, highly seasoned 
with pepper, and very good ( 31 ). Towards noon we 
passed a valley, grubbed up in all directions, in 
furrows, by the wild boars; the soil had all the 
appearance of having been literally ploughed 



$76 TRAVELS IN [LETTER HI, 

up ( 32 ). In the evening we reached Horns; we 
were highly satisfied with our conductors, and 
one would have had difficulty in finding such 
good guides in any part of Europe, we therefore 
gave them each twenty piastres, as voluntary 
backsheeish, although, when the agreement was 
made, we particularly stipulated that six hundred 
piastres should include all our expenses. One of 
these men had received twenty more for carrying 
the message to Narsah, as before mentioned. We 
also sent a turban of twenty piastres value to 
the shiekh of Tadmor for his civilities to us, and 
gave one hundred piastres to Pierre, so that our 
whole expenses in visiting Palmyra amounted to 
eight hundred piastres, two hundred of which con- 
sisted of voluntary gifts. 

I shall now close this long story with our opi- 
nion of these Arabs : their behaviour to each 
other, whatever may be their conduct to others, 
presents an amiable picture of domestic harmony 
and comfort, and is in unison with all the ideas 
the poets have formed of the peaceful content- 
ment of the pastoral life; in fact, they are a 
nation of shepherds, and I question much if in 
our most polished circles, divested of the empty 
pomp of dress and finery, you could meet with 
more dignity of deportment or urbanity of man- 
ners than you find in the humble tent of the 



LETTER III.] SYRIA. 277 

Arab. It appeared to us that all the good 
amongst them was centred in the lower orders ; 
the chiefs monopolizing to themselves all that 
cunning and roguery which renders them con- 
temptible in the eyes of a stranger. An Arab, on 
arriving in a strange camp, goes to the first tent 
that comes in his way; he does not wait to be 
asked in, but without any ceremony makes his 
camel lie down, unloads at the entrance, and 
entering the tent with the simple salutation of 
salaam alicam (peace be between us), sets himself 
down by the fire, no matter whether the host 
be at home or not. Should the latter be present, 
he immediately puts fresh wood on, and begins to 
burn and pound coffee, generally offering his pipe 
to his guest in the mean time. His wife, or wives, 
after spreading mats, if they have any, for the 
stranger to sit on, retire to their part of the tent, 
which is divided in the middle by their sack of 
corn, and whatever other effects they have, pre- 
pares the dinner or supper according to the time 
of the day, without any order being given by the 
master, but as a matter of course ; in the mean time 
the host chats with his guests, generally about 
their flock, &c. such being their principle con- 
cern. The coffee being ready, the landlord pours 
out for every one his cup, helping himself last ; as 
soon as the meal is prepared, which generally con- 



27 § TRAVELS IN [LETTER III. 

sists of a large wooden bowl of either camel's, 
goat's, or sheep's milk, boiled wheat and milk, 
lentil soup, or melted butter and bread to dip in 
it; the landlord pours water alternately for his 
guests, who therewith wash the right hand, begin- 
ing with one, and going regularly round the 
circle ( 33 ). The ablution finished, every one com- 
mences; the host retires, not eating with his 
guests, but welcoming them with frequent repe- 
titions of coula, coula (eat it all, eat it all). The 
repast being finished, the attentive master again 
washes the hands of his party, and then eats him- 
self of what remains. On two occasions we ar- 
rived at a camp late at night, and halting 
before a tent, found the owner, with his wife and 
children, having arranged their carpets, &c. for 
the night, had just retired to rest, when it was 
astonishing to see the good humour with which 
they all arose again and kindled a fire, the wife 
commencing to knead the dough and prepare our 
supper ( 34 ), our Arabs making no apology, but 
taking all as a matter of course, though the 
nights were bitter cold. Surely this was a noble 
instance of Arab hospitality. It was a pleasing 
sight to see them bring in their flocks at night, 
which always slept close to the tents of their 
owners; several Arabs, together with numerous 
dogs, remaining outside tis guards. The lambs 



LETTER HI.] SYRIA, 279 

(for it was the lambing season) were placed 
inside the tents, in a small fenced place, to screen 
them from the inclemency of the night air, which 
was nearly as cold as you would experience it in 
England at that season, always freezing hard. 
The first care in the morning was to let their 
young charge out to their mothers, when it was 
not an uninteresting scene to observe the numer- 
ous ewes recognizing their offspring by the smell 
alone; the lambs not being gifted with the saga- 
city of their mothers, were all willing to suck 
from the first ewe they met with. In short, it 
would appear that these people having few wants 
are unacquainted with many cares, and are thus 
ignorant of the greater part of the troubles and 
difficulties which are experienced in more civilized 
society. Every Arab having a tent of his own, is 
thus possessed of a freehold, which has nothing to 
do with either rents or taxes, and the shrubs of 
the wilderness serve him spontaneously both with 
food for his flocks, and fuel for his fires ( 35 ). The 
labour of tilling and reaping is unknown to him, 
though much judgement and foresight is necessary 
in his periodical migrations with his flocks, 
which must be regulated and timed with such 
due regard to the seasons as to consume the ver- 
dure while they are advancing, and at the same 
time to leave the land fallow sufficiently long for 



280 TRAVELS IN [LETTER III. 

its recovery before they return ; a minute at- 
tention to this, being with them what our syste- 
matic mode of husbandry is with us. They con- 
trive to be near their southern boundary in the 
winter, and consequently at their northern limits 
in the summer. They are frequently obliged to 
pitch their tents at six and eight hours' distance 
from the wells, and then it is that their camels 
are of incalculable utility to them. They are 
unacquainted with the miseries of blighted crops, 
or those other disappointments to which the 
farmer is so liable. Their behaviour to us was 
the same as towards each other, and I suspect 
that their character for robbing and pilfering, 
arises from the conduct of some few of the worst 
part of the community, who infest the high roads, 
than from any dishonesty of the generality of 
these people. The dread which the Turks have of 
the Arabs appeared to us quite unaccountable, as 
during the whole of our trip we did not see more 
than half a dozen old matchlock guns, and about 
eighteen spears. Narsah was imprisoned a short 
time ago for some tricks he had been playing in 
this city. The pashaw wanted to cut off his 
head, but a strong remonstance from the mer- 
chants of Aleppo and Bagdad, setting forth the 
disastrous consequences which would attend the 
execution of this man, from the vengeance of the 



LETTER III.] SYRIA. 281 

Arabs, procured his release, and instead of losing 
his head he was dismissed with a present of a robe 
and some backsheeish. Scriptural authority, how- 
ever, is not wanting to prove the comparative 
independence in which these people lived ( 36 ). 

February 7- Requiring a little rest on our re- 
turn from Tadmor, we remained at Horns till this 
morning, when we travelled for about seven hours, 
passing over rich plains, and rounding the point of 
a mountain which we took to be the end of Anti- 
Lebanon. 

February 8. We went nine hours through a 
mountainous country. 

February 9. We went seven hours, passing- 
through several deep, dry torrents. We stopped 
at a khan in a plain, and found the mountains 
very barren, uninteresting, and partly covered 
with snow. 

February ]0. Leaving this plain we again 
entered a hilly country, when arriving at the 
brow of a descent, the extensive and beautiful 
plain of Damascus opened on our view, with 
the town surrounded by woods, amidst which were 
several villages ; the land was highly cultivated ; 
to the eastward the plain extends as far as the 
eye can reach ; in other directions it is bounded 
by hills, with Lebanon very conspicuous above 
them all. In about two hours we had descended 



282 TRAVELS IN [LETTER HI. 

into the plain, and in five more arrived at the 
convent of the Terra Sancta in Damascus. The 
last three hours the road was extremely beautiful, 
passing through rich olive groves and gardens, 
generally inclosed by walls of sun-burnt brick, 
and surrounded and irrigated by streams of water^ 
partly natural and partly conducted by art. We 
were here very sensible to the comforts of a 
convent, having never slept on a bed, or with our 
clothes off, since we left Aleppo (thirty-eight days 
ago). Our time has been occupied in writing our 
letters, and in visiting different parts of the town, 
such as the place of the Vision of St. Paul outside 
the eastern gate; the place where he was let down 
the wall in a basket ; the house of Ananias ; the 
street called Straight, &c. all alluded to in the 
ninth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. For a 
decription of these places, as well as of the town 
in general, I must refer you to Maundrell, who 
describes every thing in Damascus that is worth 
notice. The Turks call it Shum, or Shem, and 
the friars of the convent think it was originally 
founded by Shem, the son of Noah ; the earliest 
information we have of this place is in the time 
of Abraham ( 3T ). 

We shall proceed to the Holy Land in a few 
days by Panias, near to which place is the source 
of the Jordan ; thence crossing the bridge of J acob. 



LETTER III.] SYRIA. 283 

we go to Nazareth, Tiberias, Nablous, Jericho, and 
Jerusalem. In consequence of a letter from Mr. 
Barker, we have received great assistance from 
Monsieur Chaboceau, physician to the pashaw of 
this place, and through his assistance we have 
got another firman for the paschalic, and a 
letter for the governor of Jerusalem, from whom 
we wish, if possible, to get guides to conduct us 
to Mount Sinai. Whether we succeed or not in 
getting to Mount Sinai, we shall return by Jerusa- 
lem to Acre, and then embark for Cyprus, whence 
we proceed for the coast of Asia Minor, beginning 
by Tarsus, which will conduct us to Smyrna, the 
site of Troy, and finally, Constantinople. We 
find by a letter left here for us by Mr. Bankes, 
that he quitted Damascus on the 10th of January, 
with an escort to make the tour of the Hauran, 
and passing to the eastward to cross the southern 
point of the Dead Sea to Jerusalem. He was so 
good as to wait here in hopes of our joining him, 
but a letter from Mr. Barker mentioning our 
detention at Aleppo, and our final plans of Pal- 
myra, obliged him to give up his design. He 
left us some information about the site of the 
ancient Abilah, as well as some inscriptions he 
found proving it so, at five hours' distance from 



J 

5284 TRAVELS IN [LETTER III. 

this town. But we have neither the time, intelli- 
gence, hooks, or money, to enahle us to follow 
this excellent traveller through his researches. 
We hope to meet him at Jerusalem. 



LETTER 



IV. 



TOUR IN SYRIA. 

Departure from Damascus. — Arrive at Panias. — Safot. 
- — Tiberias. — Om Keis. — Gal la Ji-ei- Ha m m a m . — Erbed. 
— Bysan . — Tabathat Fahkil.—Hallazvye. — Cafringee. 
— Callah-el-Rubbat. — Adjeloun. — Eugen. — Souf. — 
Djerash. — Szalt. — Athan. — Gilhad Gilhood. — Bait 
Forage. — Kaffer Baiter. — Nablous. — Arrival at Je- 
rusalem. 

Jerusalem, April 30, 1818. 

I hope our Damascus letters have reached you, 
which will have accounted for our proceedings 
up to the latter end of February, on the twenty- 
third of which month we left that delightful city for 
the source of the Jordan. About noon we quitted 
the plain of Damascus, over a slight eminence 
into another, through which runs a fine stream, 
but the plain being destitute of wood, has less 
beauty than that we quitted, though the soil is 
rich. About four in the afternoon, we stopped 
at the khan of the village of Sasa. Hitherto we 
had followed the road from Damascus to Jacob's 



286 TRAVELS IK [LETTER IV. 

Bridge, at that part of the Jordan which lies 
"between the lakes Houle and Tiberias. 

February 24. We passed to the westward 
for Panias. The first part of the road led through 
a fine plain, watered by a pretty, winding rivulet, 
with numerous tributary streams, and many 
old ruined mills, from whence we began to 
ascend over a very rugged and rocky soil quite 
void of vegetation, having in some places traces 
of an ancient paved way, probably the Roman 
road leading from Damascus to Cgesarea Phi- 
lippi; as we ascended we had the highest part of 
Djebail Sheikh (Anti-Lebanon), on our right ; 
we found the snow in some places of considerable 
depth, and difficult to cross with our horses. The 
road now became gradually less stony, and we 
found flocks of goats browsing on a rich verdure, 
in places from whence the stones had been cleared 
away and piled up in great heaps. We also 
came to a few shrubs, which gradually increased 
in number, size, and beauty, until we had de- 
scended into a very rich little plain at the im- 
mediate foot of Djebail Sheikh. There is a con- 
spicuous tomb in this valley, and a rivulet which 
appears to take its source at the foot of the 
mountains, passes along the western side of the 
plain in a southerly direction, when its course 
turns more to the westward, and rushing in a 



LETTER IV.] SYRIA. 287 

very picturesque manner, through a deep chasm, 
covered by shrubs of various descriptions, it joins 
the Jordan at u Panias ;" it is marked in Arrow- 
smith's chart as the real source, which is the 
reason why I have given you this tedious detail, 
for the source of the Jordan is a subject of much 
dispute; the fountains at Panias, which are by 
far the most copious, though not the most dis- 
tant from the Dead Sea, where the river ter- 
minates, are generally called the source ; an 
opinion in which we both agree. From this 
plain we ascended up its southern side, and after 
passing a very small village about one o'clock, 
we saw on our left, close to us, a very pictu- 
resque lake, apparently perfectly circular, of 
little more than a mile in circumference, sur- 
rounded on all sides by sloping hills richly 
wooded. The singularity of this lake is, that 
it has no apparent supply or discharge, and its 
waters appeared perfectly still, though clear 
and limpid; a great many wild-fowl were swim- 
ming in it. It appears that this lake has only 
been remarked by Burkhardt and Seetzen, those 
who have gone from Damascus to Panias having 
taken the route by Raschia and Hasbeya; Arrow- 
smith's map notices the lake by the name of the 
Birket-el Ram (according to Seetzen). Josephus 
(Jewish Wars, b. 3. c. 10. § 7.) mentions it under 



£88 TRAVELS IN [LETTER IV. 

the name of " Phiala" (cup), in allusion to the 
shape of the lake. It was supposed by the 
ancients to be the real source of the Jordan; a 
passage in the Jewish historian notices, that they 
threw straw into the lake, which came out at the 
apparent source at " Panias." But this is impossi- 
ble, for to arrive at Panias, its discharge must 
pass under the rivulet which Arrowsmith points 
out as the true source. On quitting Phiala, at 
but a short distance from it, we crossed a stream 
which discharges into the larger one which we first 
saw; the latter we followed for a considerable 
distance, and then mounting up the hill to the 
S. W. had in view the great Saracenic castle near 
Panias, the town of that name, and the plain 
of the Jordan as far the lake Houle, together 
with the mountains on the other side of the 
plain, forming altogether a fine coup tfceil. As we 
descended towards Panias we found the country 
extremely beautiful, great quantities of wild- 
flowers, and a variety of shrubs just budding, 
together with the richness of the verdure of the 
grass, corn, and beans, shewed us all at once the 
beauties of spring, and conducted us into a 
climate (although the difference of latitude is 
comparatively trifling) quite different from that 
of Damascus, or of the country which we had 
passed through since we left that city. About 



LETTER IV.] SYRIA. 289 

five in the evening we entered Panias, crossing 
a causeway constructed over the rivulet, which 
as before stated, flows from the foot of Dgebail 
Sheikh. The river here rushes over great 
rocks in a very picturesque manner, its banks 
being covered with shrubs and the ruins of 
the ancient walls, but whether the ruins are 
Saracenic or not I cannot say. The present 
town of Panias is small, the ground it stands 
on is of a triangular form, inclosed by the 
Jordan on one side, the rivulet on the other, 
and the mountain at the back; from this com- 
pressed situation, we think the ancient Panias, 
afterwards Caesar ea Philippi could not have 
been of great extent. Ancient authors (see 
Josephus' Jewish Antiquities, b. xv. 10. § 3.) 
mention a temple built by Herod, but we could 
find no trace of such an edifice. The apparent 
source of the Jordan flows from under a cave at 
the foot of a precipice, in the sides of which are 
several. niches with Greek inscriptions. 




v 



290 „ TRAVELS IN [LETTER IV. 

The neighbourhood of Panias is very beautiful, 
richly wooded, and abounds in game ; as we had 
seen a variety of birds the preceding evening, we 
employed a part of the morning of the twenty- 
fifth in shooting, but had poor sport, though we 
saw plenty of partridges, wild ducks, snipe, &c. 
Having been directed to follow the J ordan to the 
lake Houle, we endeavoured, on leaving Panias at 
eleven o'clock, to perform this route. The beau- 
tifully wooded country does not continue more 
than two miles, when we entered into open but 
rich plains. We found the ground very marshy, 
after winding about to find fords over the nume- 
rous streams which water the plain, we crossed 
the Jordan itself; but the country on the other 
side was as full of marshes and swamps as that 
we had left, and in several places we nearly lost 
the horses ; at last we succeeded in reaching the 
road to Safot, which runs at the foot of the hills 
on the other side of the plain, and to have taken 
which, in the first instance, we ought to have 
passed round the north end of the whole valley. 
Loss of time in these bogs occasioned our 
arriving no further on our journey this evening, 
than a village by the side of a hill in the neigh- 
bourhood of the N. W. end of lake Houle ; the 
banks of this lake are very low, the hills not 
approaching it in any part. 



LETTER IV.] SYRIA. %§4 

May 26. We ascended from hence to Safot, 
the plain which we had quitted was literally 
covered with wild geese,, ducks., widgeon, snipe, 
and water-fowl of every description. Mounting 
up to Safot, there is a village at the foot of 
the steep ascent, in which are a few Roman 
ruins. As we ascended, the lakes of Houle and 
Tiberias opened to us with much grandeur, and 
part of the plain of the Jordan added to the 
beauty of the scene. The country in the moun- 
tains is generally cultivated. The situation of 
Safot is extremely beautiful ; the castle is on a 
small hill, standing by itself ; the town appears to 
consist of four distinct villages at the foot of it. 
The approach is very fine, and the country 
abounds in olives, vines, and almond trees, which 
are now in blossom. The lake of Tiberias is 
visible from some ^part of the town, which, from its 
elevated situation, Maundrell thinks is the same 
alluded to by our Saviour ( 38 ). Its ancient name 
appears in Arrowsmith's map as Japhet. We 
were detained by rainy weather at Safot until 
the afternoon of the twenty-eighth, when we 
proceeded for Tiberias, but only reached an old 
ruined khan, about two miles to the north of 
the village of Madjdala by the lake's side, that 
night. Here we were dreadfully bitten by a red 
sort of vermin which is the annoyance of camels 



292 TRAVELS IX [LETTER IV- 

in this country ; it was soft like a maggot. In 
the morning we found ourselves studded all over 
with deep crimson spots, from which it would 
appear that there is much venom in the bite of 
this disgusting animal. I shall take this op- 
portunity of remarking, that a traveller in these 
countries, however much the very thoughts may 
shock him at first, must make up his mind, and 
reconcile his feelings, to being constantly covered 
with lice and fleas ; we kill every day from ten 
to twenty of these guests, which are always to 
be found on every mat or cushion used in the 
country. These nauseous visitors seldom get 
into the head, but crawl about your shirt and 
clothes. Every native you see in the country 
is covered with vermin, and if you ask why 
they have such a plentiful store, while we are 
comparatively so little annoyed by them, they tell 
you " it is the curse of God on them." The other 
day I cut my foot, and our Arab Seys, (the same 
that has accompanied us all the way from YafTa,) 
who is always washing himself, and is a very 
cleanly person, tore off a small piece of the sleeve 
of his shirt for my hurt ; the piece was about 
three inches long, by two wide, and before using 
it, I killed three lice and two fleas on it ; this will 
speak more than all I can say on the subject. 
Bugs are also very plentiful, and in Egypt our 
rooms were full of them. 



LETTER IV.] SYRIA. 293 

March 1. Our road this day was generally on 
a descent, passing through a beautiful and wild 
country covered with shrubs of various descrip- 
tions, and crossing occasionally over valleys and 
rivulets. About four miles from Safot there is a 
picturesque cliff, the sides of which are perforated 
with a great number of caves, at present inhabited 
by goatherds; we supposed them to be ancient 
sepulchres, as indeed have other travellers who 
have not thought them, from their ruined appear- 
ance, worthy of examination; but Mr. Bankes, 
who leaves nothing unexplored, inspected them a 
few days afterwards, and pronounces them to be 
only natural cavities. About eight o'clock we 
reached Tiberias, having travelled about two 
hours along the side of the lake; we had occa- 
sion to observe that more pains appeared to have 
been taken to construct the road where it was 
very rocky, than in most parts of Syria which 
we had visited. The modern town of Tiberias 
is very small; it stands close to the lake of 
Gennesaret, and is walled round with towers 
at equal distances. At the northern extremity of 
the ruins are the remains of the ancient town, 
which are discernible by means of the walls and 
other ruined buildings, as well as by fragments 
of columns, some of which are of beautiful red 
granite. South of the town are the famous hot 



294 TRAVELS IN [LETTER IV. 

baths of Tiberias; they consist of three springs 
of mineral water; we had no thermometer, but 
we found the water too hot to admit of the hand 
being kept in it for more than fifty seconds ; we 
endeavoured to boil an egg but without success, 
even out of the shell. Over the spring is a Turkish 
bath close to the lake's side, which is much resorted 
to, particularly by the Jews, who have a great ve- 
neration also for a Roman sepulchre, which is ex- 
cavated in the cliff near the spot, and which 
they take to be the " Tomb of Jacob." Beyond 
the baths a wall runs from the lake to the 
mountain's side, which rather perplexed us when 
we were taking the measures of the ancient walls 
of Tiberias; but it has since appeared evident 
that the walls did not extend so far to the south, 
and that this was the fortification of Vespasian's 
camp, as appears from Josephus (see Jewish 
Wars, b. 3. c. 10. § 1.), who places it in this posi- 
tion. The lake of Tiberias is a fine sheet of 
water, but the land about it has no striking 
features, and the scenery is altogether devoid of 
character. It appeared to particular disadvantage 
to us after those beautiful lakes we had seen in 
Switzerland ; but it becomes a very interesting ob- 
ject, when you consider the frequent allusions to it 
in the gospel. We were lodged as Frank travel- 
lers usually are, in the small catholic church, 



LETTER IV.] SYRIA. c 295 

which is under the direction of an Arab priest; 
this they tell you is the identical house of St. 
Peter ; but after we had been there a few days, 
we observed that one of the stones of the build- 
ing had part of an inverted Arabic inscription on 
it, which proves it to be of much more modern 
origin; Doctor Clarke, however, seems to believe 
the assertion of the natives. We found this church 
so full of fleas, that we preferred a small open 
court in front of it for our lodging. The natives 
have a saying, " that the king of the fleas has his 
court in Tabaria;" if he has, his subjects are ex- 
tremely numerous. We here lived on fish, which 
are most excellent ; there is not much variety, but 
the best sort is the most common; it is a species 
of bream, equal to the finest perch. It is re- 
markable that there is not a single boat of 
any description on the lake at present, and the 
fish are caught with casting nets from the beach, 
a method which must yield a very small quantity 
compared to what they would get with boats. 
I imagine this to be the reason why fish are so 
dear, as to be sold at the same price per pound 
as meat. It was on this lake that the miracu- 
lous draught of fishes took place ( 39 ). There is 
a current throughout the whole breadth of the lake 
even to the shore; the passage of the Jordan 
through it is observable by the smooth state of 
the water's surface in that part. 



Q96 TRAVELS IN [LETTER IV. 

March 2. Mr. Bankes arrived after having 
made a complete tour of the Haouran, and passed 
round the lake of Tiberias. He proposed that we 
should join him in a tour, which he contemplated 
beyond the Jordan, and round the Dead Sea to 
Jerusalem ; he had expressed a wish to this effect 
at Aleppo, and had left a letter at Damascus 
to the same purport. We accordingly embraced 
the opportunity of accompanying him ; though 
it is due to Mr. Bankes to notice here, that we 
had ourselves totally abandoned all idea of mak- 
ing the tour of the Dead Sea, as a hopeless un- 
dertaking, notwithstanding we had our poor friend 
Burkhardt's notes to aid and assist us ; Mr. B. was, 
however, resolved to make the attempt alone if 
we could not have joined him: while Mr. Bankes 
made a short visit to Safot, which he had not yet 
seen, we determined to inspect Om Keis (the 
ancient Gadara), in the country of the Gada- 
renes ( 40 ). 

March 4. We quitted Tiberias at eleven, and 
following the shore of the lake till we came to 
the site of the ancient Tarichea, proceeded to a 
ford of the Jordan, situated close to the ruins of 
a Roman bridge, a few hundred yards from the 
lake's discharge, thence we passed by the village 
of Semmack (Arabic for fish) at the south end 
of the lake, and turning to the southward, in 



4 



LETTER IV.] SYRIA. 297 

about half an hour crossed the river Yarmaek or 
Hieromax, a very pretty stream, tributary to the 
Jordan. There is a small ancient site in this 
position, but it contains nothing of interest; the 
map marks it " Amatha." From hence we as- 
cended the mountains by a very steep road, and 
before sun-set arrived at Om Keis; we were 
very kindly received by the sheikh of the na- 
tives who inhabit the ancient sepulchres; the 
tomb we lodged in was capable of containing be- 
tween twenty and thirty people ; it was of an 
oblong form, and the cattle, &c. occupied one end, 
while the proprietor and his family lodged in 
the other ; it was near this spot that the 
people lived in the tombs during the time of 
our Saviour ( 41 ). The walls of the ancient Ga- 
dara are still easily discernible; within them 
you find the pavement of the city very perfect ; 
the traces of the chariot wheels are still marked 
in the stones. We found the remains of a row 
of columns which lined the main street on either 
side; two theatres, in tolerable preservation, 
are within the walls, and without them, to the 
northward, is the Necropolis ; the sepulchres, which 
are all under ground, are hewn out of the live rock, 
and the doors which are very massy, are cut out of 
immense blocks of stone ; some of these are now 
standing, and actually working on their hinges, 



298 TRAVELS IN [LETTER IV. 

and used by the natives ; of course the hinge is 
nothing but a part of the stone left projecting at 
each end, and let into a socket cut in the rock ; 
the face of the doors were cut in the shape of 
pannels. From hence we had a fine view of the 
lake of Tiberias. 

March 5. In the morning we descended to 
the N. E. into the plain of the Yarmack, to visit 
the hot springs there ; they are not so hot as 
those of Tiberias. One of them is inclosed by 
palm-trees in a very picturesque manner ; it is of 
great depth, and its surface is covered by a 
species of red moss, somewhat resembling sponge 
before it has been purified: this the natives 
told us they apply ta their camels when they 
have a certain cutaneous disorder. The ruins of 
a Roman bath are at the source ; we found se- 
veral sick persons at these springs who had come 
to use the waters. Hence we followed the 
Yarmack until we came near to the place where 
we had crossed it the preceding evening, and 
returned by dusk to Tiberias. From the sixth 
to the tenth, we employed ourselves in measur- 
ing the circuit of the ancient city, and in 
making researches in the neighbourhood. Mr. 
Bankes had discovered a curious ancient forti- 
fication, situated to the west of Magdala on 
the north side of the entrance of a ravine; 



LETTER IV.] SYRIA. 299 

there is a high perpendicular cliff, which from 
its projecting situation and steep sides, forms 
a natural barrier on two sides of a triangle, 
the other side being defended by a wall of 
rough masonry, with numerous projecting tur- 
rets. Mr. B. made a plan of it; we were two 
days in taking the measurements. The na- 
tives call it Callah-el-Hammam, (Castle of the 
Pigeons,) but no ancient authors, that we have 
seen, give any clue to its origin. It may possibly be 
the ancient " Jotapata" where Josephus was taken; 
and the city demolished by Vespasian (see Jewish 
Wars, b. 3. c. 7- § 3.). It is certainly very 
antique, and Mr. B. thinks prior to the time of 
the Romans; in which case the Bible will be as 
good authority as any to search for a fortified 
camp in this direction. The village of Erbed, 
in which there are a few Roman ruins, stands in 
a plain at the foot of the Mount Beatitude, on 
the opposite side of the ravine. There are some 
curious old convents in the side of the cliff, on 
the left in going from the village of Majdil (the 
ancient Magdala) to the Callah-el-Hammam; 
these convents are very singular, being built 
several stories high in the perpendicular cliff, 
with galleries, &c. About two miles south of 
Majdil are the ruins of six Roman baths of mi- 
neral water, but only of a luke-warm temperature. 



300 TRAVELS IN [LETTER IV. 

The baths are circular (from fifteen to twenty 
feet in diameter,) inclosed with a wall about 
twelve feet high within, and six without; at 
present there is no apparent means of ingress 
or egress. The spot where they are is now 
very picturesque, being close to the lake, 
and overgrown with shrubs, weeds, and wild 
flowers; the water is very clear, and about six 
or seven feet deep, with pebbles at the bottom; 
there are also fish sporting about in them; the 
spring discharges itself into the lake, subterra- 
neously, through the wall. We swam to the 
Scorpion Rock mentioned by Josephus, but found 
no scorpions on it. 

March 1 0. In the forenoon we left Tiberias 
and observed, in following the borders of the lake, 
one of the circular towers with part of the wall of 
the ancient town on that side. We left the hot 
baths about noon; drawing towards the southern 
extremity of the lake, we observed, on our right, 
at the foot of the hills, an extensive aqueduct, 
and at the entrance are traces of the walls of 
Tarichea, which appears to have been situated on 
two eminences, one on the right of our road, and 
the other bordering on the discharge of the lake, 
by the Jordan; this latter appears to have been 
artificially surrounded by water on the other sides. 
The Jordan winds extremely here, but has little 



LETTER IV.] SYRIA. 301 

current. The ruins of the Roman bridge (alluded 
to in going to Om Keis) had ten arches : the road 
continues from hence through rather a naked 
country, with occasional views of the river. About 
three o'clock we came to a khan near a bridge; 
they are both rather picturesque objects; the 
bridge consists of an arch in the centre, with small 
arches upon arches on the sides. About one hour 
beyond this, we observed by the road side a Roman 
mile-stone, but there were only two or three dis- 
tinct letters visible on it. Farther on, the pavement 
of the ancient road is perceivable, and about two 
miles from Bysan we saw a sarcophagus on the 
brow of a slight eminence on the right of the road ; 
hence we crossed a small stream and ascended to 
Bysan about dusk ; during the latter part of this 
day's journey we remarked a great number of Arab 
camps. Bysan is supposed to be the Bethshan of 
scripture, afterwards called Scythopolis, the 
largest city of the Decapolis, and the only one 
on that side of the Jordan. It was to the wail 
of Bethshan, that the body of Saul was fastened 
after he was slain ( 42 ). 

March ] 1. We employed ourselves in inspect- 
ing the ruins. The principal object is the theatre 
which is quite distinct, but now completely filled 
with weeds ; it measures across the front, as well 
as we can remember, one hundred and eighty feet, 



302 TRAVELS IN [LETTER IV. 

and it has this singularity above all other theatres 
that we have ever seen, viz. that those oval reces- 
ses half way up the theatre, mentioned by Vitru- 
vius as being constructed to contain the brass 
sounding tubes, are found here ; as Mr. B. had not 
lately read Vitruvius, we were quite at a loss 
what use to apply these very curious cells to I 
there are seven of them, and Vitruvius mentions 
that even in his day very few theatres had them 5 
We were lucky enough to find this useful author 
in the library of the convent while at Jerusalem. 
We were very careful in taking a very correct 
plan of this theatre, attending to every minute 
particular. 

We found twenty-four sculls and other bones 
in one of the most concealed vomitories ; in one 
of the sculls a viper was basking with his body 
twisted between the eyes, presenting a good 
subject for a moralizer. The other remains are 
the tombs, which are interesting enough ; they lie 
to the N. E. of the Acropolis, without the walls ; 
the sarcophagi remain in some of them ; we were 
interested in finding the niches, of a triangular 
shape, for the lamps ; some of the doors were also 
hanging on the ancient hinges of stone, in remark- 
able preservation. Two streams run through 
the ruins of the city, almost insulating the Acro- 
polis ; there is a fine Roman bridge over the one 



LETTER IV.] SYRIA. 303 

to the S. W. of the Acropolis, and beyond it 
may be seen the paved way which led to the an- 
cient Ptolemais, now Acre. The plains extend 
in this direction to the sea-coast, without any 
intervening mountains. On the other side the 
wails of the town cross the rivulet (a little below 
where both unite in one stream) in a singular 
manner ; one high arch in the centre, with a 
smaller on each end of it, appear to have formed a 
bridge, and on the outside the wall of the city 
was continued on the edge of the bridge. It 
would appear as if the centre arch had been 
blocked up by a grating, allowing the stream to 
pass through ; the outer part of the other two 
smaller arches was walled ud. On the hill near 
this arch the ruins of one of the gates of the city 
are very distinguishable, and amongst the remains 
are prostrate columns of Corinthian architecture. 
The Acropolis is a high circular hill, on the top 
of which are the traces of the walls which en- 
compassed it. The people are a fanatical set. 

March 12. At eight o'clock in the morning we 
left Bysan. Near the town are the ruins of many 
subterranean granaries ( 43 ). Taking guides for ford- 
ing the Jordan from an Arab camp, we reached 
its banks in one hour and twenty minutes ; we ob- 
served them to be very prettily wooded, although 
the more distant parts of the plains are quite 



304 TRAVELS IN [LETTER IV. 

destitute of trees. Near the ford, at about half a 
mile to the south, is a tomb called " Sheikh Daoud," 
standing on an apparent round hill resembling a 
barrow. The stream of the Jordan is here much 
more swift than in that part near the lake of 
Tiberias ; the depth at the ford reached above 
the bellies of the horses. We measured the 
breadth, and found it to be one hundred and forty 
feet; we bathed here. From the Jordan we 
turned to the right of the path to see " Tabathat 
Fahkil," which we reached in about half an hour ; 
here the ruins of a modern village stand on a hill, 
bearing E.S. E. from the Acropolis of Bysan; and 
in a plain to the west of it are the ruins of a 
square building, with a semi-circular end, which 
appears to have been surrounded by columns; on 
the east and south side of the hill are considerable 
ruins of some ancient city which must have been 
of great extent. The situation is beautiful, being 
on the side of a ravine, with a picturesque stream 
running at the bottom. As this place appears to 
be as ancient as the ruins of Scythopolis, and 
full two-thirds of its size, it appears unac- 
countable that history should not mention a place 
so near " the principal city of the Decapolis" as 
this is; we searched for inscriptions, but in vain. 
The ruins of a fine temple are situated near the wa- 
ter-side, and amongst the columns are discovered 



LETTER IV.] SYRIA. 505 

the three orders of architecture, Doric, Ionic, 
and Corinthian; the river passing to the south, 
finally communicates with the Jordan. Crossing 
the rivulet, and following a path to the southward' 
we were conducted to a small plain very thickly 
set with herbage, and particularly the mustard 
plant, reaching as high as our horses heads ; 
looking from thence to the eastward we observed 
several excavations in the side of the hills ; these 
are probably the Necropolis, for Mr. Bankes was 
informed of several tombs in that direction, re- 
sembling those at Bysan and Om Keis, which 
information was confirmed at Hallawye. Finding 
no path this way, we re-crossed the rivulet, and 
proceeding to the north rejoined the track from 
the Jordan, which we had originally quitted to visit 
Tabathat Fahkil ; from hence we began to ascend, 
passing through occasional hill and vale, well 
wooded, the country gradually increasing in 
beauty. On our left we saw the spot where 
Elijah was fed by the ravens ( 44 ) ; there are many 
villages in this direction. 

March 13. We slept at Hallawye. In the 
morning we continued our route, and passed 
through the most beautiful woodland scenery, 
with the gall oak, wild olive, arbutus, &c. &c. in 
great luxuriance, and a variety of wild flowers » 
such as the cyclamen, crimson anemone, &c. on a 

x 



306 TRAVELS IN [LETTER IV. 

rich soil. We arrived in three hours at a village 
called Cafringee, situated at the southern ex- 
tremity of the valley of Adjeloun ( 45 ). There are 
sufficient fragments amongst the rubbish and 
buildings of Cafringee, to judge that there was 
once a Roman town or some edifice on the spot. 
We remained here about an hour, and then send- 
ing our baggage by the vale to the village of 
Adjeloun, proceeded, in company with the prin- 
cipal sheikh of the neighbourhood, to the Callah- 
el-Rubbat, situated on an eminence, an hour's dis- 
tance, to the N. N. W. About half way up the 
hill we were shewn a great cave, the most ex- 
tensive natural one we had seen in Syria ; this, 
supposing the valley to be the same with that 
alluded to in Joshua, ch. x. may be the " cave 
of Makkedah," in which the five kings hid 
themselves and were buried ( 4G ). The Callah-el- 
Rubbat commands, by its elevated situation, 
a most extensive view of the plain of the Jordan, 
the lakes Asphaltes and Tiberias, and a vast 
tract of country in every direction. Indeed, for 
several days we had constantly this castle in view 
from all quarters ( 47 ) ; unluckily for us the weather 
was too hazy to admit of our profiting much by 
our situation, but we fully examined every part 
of the castle, which is entirely of Turkish archi- 
tecture, and has an Arabic inscription in one of 



LETTER IV.] SYRIA. 307 

the centre stones. The building is constructed out 
of the rock, which they have excavated to form the 
moat round it. There are some tanks near the 
castle ; we now descended to the village to pass 
the night. We found at Adjeloun, in the court of 
an old mosque, a Roman mile-stone, and in the 
building itself, several fragments of Roman sculp- 
ture. The next day we went to Souf. Half an 
hour fromAdjeloun, we passed through the village 
of Eugen ; here are some Roman tombs, and two 
sarcophagi cut in the live rock. From hence, 
towards Souf, the road led through a narrow and 
picturesque valley, with a fine view of the Callah- 
el-Rubbat behind us. This vale opens at the 
further end into a plain, whence the road passes 
through a woody, uneven country, extremely beau- 
tiful. We here observed the arbutus of unusual 
dimensions and great beauty ; one tree was about 
six feet in circumference, and in some instances 
the Valonia oak and arbutus andrachne were 
growing grafted together, probably from the 
acorn or berry of either having accidently drop- 
ped into some crack, in the stem of the other, 
and taken root. The Roman road is discerni- 
ble beyond this situation as you advance into 
a plain near Souf ; we saw likewise three Roman 
mile-stones near to each other ; it is about two 
hours and a half's journey from Adjeloun to Souf. 



308 TRAVELS IN [LETTER IV* 

Souf is a small village situated on the side of 
a hill ; in the vale below it is the source of 
a stream which runs through the valley. At the 
fountain is an imperfect Greek inscription, and in 
the ruins of a church in the village a mile-stone, 
together with an altar having a Greek inscription. 
At three in the afternoon, we went with three 
armed natives of Souf to Djerash. We took the 
shortest road over the hills one hour, and after 
taking a general view of the ruins, returned to 
Souf by a valley to the N. E. of that place. 
This latter road is very beautifully wooded, hav- 
ing a picturesque stream, with its banks covered 
with the oleander. We found the natives of Souf 
a very rude set of people, constantly annoying us 
with stories about the dytchmaan or enemies, 
alluding to the Salhaan Arabs, who are encamped 
near Djerash ; but it was evidently done with a 
view to induce us to have a strong escort from the 
village every time we went to Djerash, which 
as they asked two piastres per man each trip, was 
well worth their pains. In consequence of these 
remonstrances, we went on the 15th to Djerash 
again, accompanied by the sheikh of Souf and 
ten of his people. We employed ourselves in 
taking measures of one of the temples ; our at- 
tendants annoyed us in the meantime with officious 
remarks on their use in protecting us against the 



LETTER IV.] SYRIA. 309 

Arabs ; two of these arrived, armed with pikes, 
during the day, but they were very quiet ; they 
were on horseback. We returned to Souf rather 
early in the afternoon. 

March 16. It rained hard; but had it been 
fine, the natives of Souf refused to attend- us any 
more to Djerash, telling us the old story of their 
terror of the dytchmaan. In the afternoon the 
interpreter and soldier of Mr. Bankes arrived, with 
a young prince of the Benesuckher Arabs and ten 
of his men, all of the Benesuckher tribe ; the 
prince, named Ebyn Fayes, was attended by his . 
mace-bearer ; the mace was of iron, hollow, and 
about two feet long. They were well mounted 
and armed, and as they galloped down the hill, > 
firing their pistols and manoeuvring with their 
spears, they made a curious and interesting ap- 
pearance. Mr. B. had dispatched the interpreter 
and soldier from Adjeloun to the Benesuckher 
camp, for a guard to conduct us to the several 
places lying east of the Jordan and Dead Sea 
which we wished to visit : he had a list of 
places which Burkhardt had visited, and a note of 
his route by Kerek and Wady Mousa, intending to 
pass from the latter to the south end of the Dead 
Sea, and by Hebron to Jerusalem. The interpre- 
ter, however, could only make a bargain with 
these people as far as Kerek, as they said they 



310 TRAVELS IN [LETTER IV. 

were at war with the tribes beyond that place, 
and could go no further. As the places beyond 
Kerek were the most difficult to reach, there 
seemed to be little hope of performing the whole of 
the journey under their protection ; we, however, 
kept them for the present, hoping if we reached 
Kerek with them, to pursue the further object of 
our journey by other means ; as the natives of 
Kerek are mostly Christians, and in the habit of 
making their pilgrimage to Jerusalem by that 
route. Volney mentions a report by the Arabs, 
" that there are to the S. E. of the lake AsphaL 
tes, within three days' journey, upwards of three 
hundred ruined towns absolutely deserted f se- 
veral have large edifices with columns. " This 
was the country of the Nabatheans, the most po- 
tent of the Arabs and of the Idumseans, who at the 
time of the destruction of Jerusalem were almost 
as numerous as the Jews." (See Josephus.) 
Our lamented friend Sheikh Ibrahim, in his notes, 
tells us, that three days south from Kerek are the 
ruins of Petra, the capital of the ancient Arabia 
Petraea in the Wady Mousa. Here are wonder- 
fully fine temples cut out of the rock, and 
more than two hundred sepulchres, to use his 
own expression. Since the death of the poor 
sheikh, no European living has seen this place, or 
indeed the others to the S. E. of the Dead Sea. 



LETTER IV.] SYRIA. 311 

Hebron is the ancient Kiriath Arba, and is said 
to be of higher antiquity than Memphis ; to see 
the site of such a place, exites no ordinary degree 
of interest. Abraun or Hebron, is the place also 
where Abraham died. I should now add, that the 
bargain which we had made with the Arabs was 
to conduct us safe to Kerek for one thousand 
piastres ; Mr. B. unfortunately paid the whole of 
the money before hand, and to this unfortunate 
step, we owe all the tricks they afterwards played 
us. 

March 17- We quitted Souf with our Arab 
guard, and passed the day in taking further 
measurements at Djerash. We took this day 
the length of the main street, the Ionic oval, 
the length from the S. W. gate to the Circus, 
which is outside the town to the south, and the 
dimensions of the stadium and the triumphal 
arch near it. It was this day that the Arabs 
got Mr. Bankes to pay all the money in ad- 
vance ; and from that moment commenced a 
regular train of impositions and falsehoods on 
their part, which in the end induced us to leave 
them and to abandon the journey. In dealing 
with these Arabs one should never pay them a 
para in advance, but make a bargain that they 
are to receive nothing till they have completed 
their contract. They are a cunning set of people, 
who behave well when they are kept in check 



312 TRAVELS IN [LETTER IV. 

in this manner,, but when once paid before hand, 
they continue to teaze you for more and 
more, and having received the whole of their 
agreement, consider you as completely in their 
power, and do as they like with you ; perhaps 
few people, since Lady H. S. spoiled the market 
for Palmyra, have succeeded so quietly with them 
as we did in going to that place ; and this was 
certainly owing to our persisting in not paying a 
para till the agreement was fulfilled. In the 
evening we went to Katty, a village one hour 
distant to the W. N. W. of Djerash, in a beau- 
tiful situation, and passed the night there ; the 
Arabs here made a demand for money to feed 
themselves, and we agreed with them for thirty 
piastres per day. 

March 18. This morning we went to Djerash 
again ; we measured this day the walls of the 
town, and the principal temple. Some of the 
Salhaan Arabs appearing in the distance, our 
Benesuckher friends galloped off to parley with 
them, and we were constantly teazed about the 
dytchmaan. We went this night, by the desire 
of our conductors, to a small camp of the Sal- 
haans, lying one hour and a half to the S. E. of 
Djerash, although they had been continually call- 
ing them their enemies. On our way they tried 
to persuade Mr. Bankes to give a horse to the 
Salhaans; this request took place in a valley about 



LETTER IV.] SYRIA . 313 

half an hour distant, and was made in a very 
mysterious manner; on Mr. B.'s refusal they at 
first stopped to go somewhere else, but finally 
conducted us to the camp, and said they would 
give up one of their own horses, and even went 
through the ceremony of parading their present 
before the tent we were in. We never ascer- 
tained whether the animal was really given, but 
we rather suppose that it was an attempt to 
induce us to part with one of our horses. 

March 1 9. We went in the morning to ex- 
amine a place called Reashy, but found nothing 
there of consequence. The Benesuckher Arabs 
refused to go to Djerash excusing themselves 
by saying they had fear of the Salhaans; we 
were very anxious to finish the plan of Djerash, 
no person having ever published on these antiqui- 
ties ; and, indeed, they were unknown to Europeans 
until Mr. Seetzen, discovered them in 1806. I 
believe Mr. B., Sir W. Chatterton, Mr. Leslie, 
Sheikh Ibrahim, and Mr. Buckingham, are the 
only Europeans who have seen them. The Arabs 
were now told that Mr. B. would give up the 
researches he had intended to make on the banks 
of the Zerka in favour of Djerash ; we accordingly 
set out in that direction with three of the Arabs, 
the remainder proceeding with our baggage from 
the Salhaan camp to Katty. In our way we 
ascended to Nebi Hood, a village situated on the 



314 TRAVELS IN [LETTER IV. 

summit of a hill S. S. E. of Djerash; the village 
is at present deserted; we found a Greek 
inscription on an altar in the court-yard of one 
of the houses. We were going from hence to 
Djerash;, when one of the three Arabs who ac- 
companied us, and had advanced a little in front, 
returned to inform us that six of the Salhaan 
Arabs were waiting near Djerash to intercept us, 
We accordingly returned to join some more of 
the Benesuckher party, after having first recon- 
noitred ourselves. We soon met the remainder 
of our escort on their way to Katty, and there- 
fore proceeded with them all, and had a parley 
with the six Salhaans, who after some conversa- 
tion, in which they said that " they wanted heads 
not money," told the Benesuckhers that we 
had their permission to remain at Djerash till the 
afternoon of this day. Our Benesuckher friends 
and ourselves laughed heartily at them, as the 
circumstances of their being enabled to bring 
only six armed men to intercept us, was no great 
proof of their force. We endeavoured to finish with 
Djerash this day, but though we were at work till 
dark (Irby and myself measuring, and Mr. Bankes 
drawing, copying inscriptions, &c), we could not 
complete our work: in the course of this day 
Mr. Bankes was robbed of his cap by an armed 
Arab, who, having concealed himself amongst the 
ruins of the great theatre, stole on him unper- 



LETTER IV.] SYRIA. 315 

ceived while he was drawing. We passed the night 
at Katty; just as we arrived a great quarrel en- 
sued between the Benesuckhers and the villa- 
gers; the scene of action was on the house tops. 
It is a custom in the country, that travellers are 
fed gratis for one night; and there is in every 
Turkish village a room to lodge them in. Eu- 
ropean travellers generally, on departing, make 
a present to the servants, at least equivalent to 
what has been consumed. I mentioned before 
that we had given the Arabs thirty piastres 
per day to feed themselves ; these cunning fellows, 
however, wanted to force the villagers to feed 
them, although they had been there before on 
the night of the seventeenth, and as the poor 
people had to feed the horses gratis, as well as 
the men, it came very hard on them. We paid 
for every thing we got, and we assured the villa- 
gers that the Benesuckhers were provided with 
money to pay for all they had. Perhaps a more 
curious battle never took place, for although 
there was much appearance of anger and rage, and 
the greatest noise and confusion imaginable, men, 
women, and children, all mixed together pell 
mell, nevertheless all were cautious to avoid 
blows, and the affray ended to the advantage of 
the poor natives, the Benesuckhers retreating 
from the village; we remained. 

March 20. We went in the morning to Djerash 



316 TRAVELS IN [LETTER IV. 

to finish our operations ; a very singular circum- 
stance here took place. Mr. B.'s soldier of Damas- 
cus, whom he had always found very useful and 
attached, had within the last two or three days 
very much altered his manners and conduct, and 
exhibited strong proofs of fear, both in words 
and actions; on our way to Djerash he told us 
frequently that the Arabs would strip us all of every 
thing,' and while Mr. Bankes was taking a copy 
of an inscription near the north gate of the city, 
the soldier very slowly, without making any 
further observations, walked off, and was never 
seen any more. On the preceding evening he said 
he had received information of some Damascus 
troops having arrived at a town a few hours' 
distant, and asked permission to depart in the 
night to procure them for our protection; how- 
ever, he did not then go, as the villagers persuaded 
him to the contrary ; we, of course, imagined that 
this was his object in setting off, and that rinding 
the report false, he had returned to Damascus. 
Two spy-glasses were found missing, which Mr. 
B. had with him, to make presents of; we did 
not, however, suspect him of any roguery in this 
respect, although he certainly took the interpre- 
ter's gun, leaving his own, which was worse. This 
theft we afterwards heard was proved; the Arabs 
denied having taken the telescopes. It was two 
o'clock in the afternoon before we had completed 



LETTER IV.] SYRIA. 317 

our operations at Djerash, which place I will 
now add a few remarks on. It has been a splen- 
did city, built on two sides of a valley, with a 
fine stream running through it ; the situation is 
beautiful. The town has been principally com- 
posed of two main streets, crossing each other in 
the centre at right angles, like Antinoe. The 
streets have been lined with a double row of 
columns, some of which are Ionic and some Co- 
rinthian ; the pavement is exceedingly good, and 
there is an elevated space on each side for foot 
passengers ; the marks of the chariot wheels are 
visible in many parts of the streets. Djerash, sup- 
posed to be either Pella or Gerasa, but in some 
respects answering to neither, can boast of more 
public edifices than any city we have seen. 
There are two theatres, two grand temples, one, 
as appears by a Greek inscription, dedicated to 
the sun, like that at Palmyra, and not unlike 
that edifice, being constructed in the centre of 
an immense double peristyle court. The diameter 
of the columns of the temple is five feet, and the 
height of just proportions ; the capitals are Co- 
rinthian and well executed. One singularity in 
this edifice is a chamber under ground, below the 
principal hall of the temple, with a bath in the 
centre. Five or six inferior temples are scat- 
tered about the town ; and a magnificent Ionic 



3 1 8 TRAVELS IN [LETTER IV. 

oval space of three hundred and nine feet long, 
adds greatly to the beauty of the ruins. The scene 
of the larger theatre is nearly perfect, presenting 
a singularity very rarely to be met with. There 
are two grand baths, and also two bridges crossing 
the valley and river. The temples, and both 
theatres, are built of marble, but not of a very fine 
sort. Three hundred yards from the S. W. gate 
is the Circus or Stadium, and near it is the trium- 
phal arch. The cemetery surrounds the city, but 
the sarcophagi are not very highly finished; up- 
wards of two hundred and thirty columns are 
now standing in the city. There is to the N. E. 
about two hundred yards distance, a very large 
reservoir for water, and a picturesque tomb 
fronted by four Corinthian columns ; near it is also 
an aqueduct. These ruins being overgrown with 
wood, are objects of considerable interest. There 
are numerous inscriptions in all directions, chiefly 
of the time of Antoninus Pius ; most of them are 
much mutilated ; but the one I alluded to about 
the Temple of the Sun, was on the propyleum of 
that edifice, which has been a grand piece of 
architecture. On the whole we hold Djerash to 
be a much finer mass of ruins than Palmyra ; the 
city has three entrances of richly ornamented 
gateways, and the remains of the wall, with its 
occasional towers, are in wonderful preservation. 



LETTER IV.] SYRIA. 319 

At two o'clock in the afternoon, having com- 
pleted our operations, we set out in a S. W. 
direction for Szalt ; we observed pieces of columns 
apparently unfinished. In an hour and twenty 
minutes we crossed the Zerka. The Zerka is a 
small stream winding prettily in a narrow valley, 
which is not so well wooded as its neighbourhood ; 
there are the ruins of a small building on the 
front of the hills near the ford. Ascending from 
the rivulet, we passed some small sites of towns, 
possessing nothing of interest; and at five in the 
evening, we arrived at a camp of the Salhaans, 
where we passed the night. 

March 2 1 . This morning we proceeded, but 
shortly coming to a cross-road, the Benesuckhers 
said they could not reach Szalt that day, but would 
conduct us to a camp of their own ; although we 
knew that Szalt could be only a few hours' 
distant. We positively insisted upon being con- 
ducted to Szalt, which after much altercation, in a 
lonely valley, they consented to do, if we would 
give two hundred piastres to each of the sheikhs 
of Szalt, Heshbon, and Kerek, and also to them- 
selves five days' advance of the thirty piastres per 
day for their food. All this was positively refused, 
excepting the thirty for the present day; and 
after much altercation, the Benesuckhers evidently 
endeavouring, both by their threats and the place 



320 TRAVELS IN [LETTER IV. 

they had chosen, to frighten us into a compliance 
with their demands ; the dispute ended by our 
going to Szalt, accompanied by the prime minister 
(as we termed him) of the young prince, the chief 
of the party. The minister is a very great rogue ; 
he is not an Arab born ; we thought he had much 
the appearance of a Levantine, of some European 
extraction. 

It was he who put every bad idea into the minds 
of the prince, and the rest of the Arabs, who were 
mostly very young men, and not so well versed 
in the art of cheating as himself. We did not 
succeed in getting to Szalt, until the interpreter, 
and the Arab Seys who took care of our horses, im- 
pelled by fear from the gesticulations of the oppo- 
site party, had given the Arabs sixty piastres, for 
which we told them they must themselves be the 
sufferers. The prince and his gang now quitted 
us for their own camp, as they said they could not 
enter Szalt, because they were at war with the in- 
habitants. On leaving them we crossed over some 
small hills into a spacious valley called Bayga, in 
which are the ruins of a large square cyclopean 
building perhaps a fortress ; on quitting 
which, we ascended to the westward over some 
rugged rocks, and thence descended into, and 
passed through some picturesque vallies most 
beautifully wooded. From these vallies we again 



LETTER IV.] SYRIA. 321 

passed over some barren soil, and descending 
again, went by some vineyards, inclosed with 
stone walls ( 49 ), on our left ; whence turning 
round a point to our right, we had the first view 
of Szalt, not ten minutes' distant from us, the 
castle is situated on the top of a hill, on the sides 
of which is the village, nearly surrounded by 
a valley and by high hills, forming a very 
picturesque object. The neighbourhood abounds 
in vineyards and olives ; we found the finest 
raisins here that we had seen in Syria. The 
inhabitants of Szalt are numerous, and more than 
one-third of them are Christians. We arrived, 
wet through, both ourselves and baggage ; the 
people shewed us great attention, drying our 
clothes before the fire. We first went to the 
travellers' room, but were soon after conducted to 
the house of a Christian. Bad weather con- 
tinued the whole of the next day, but on the 
twenty-third the weather became fairer. In 
consequence of the treachery of the Arabs, we 
wished to quit them, and if possible to get the 
natives of Szalt to conduct us to Kerek. The 
minister made some extravagant demands, how- 
ever he was paid up to the day, and told, his 
services and those of his comrades were no longer 
wanted. He now tried all he could to induce 
us to consent to go to their camp, but this would 

Y 



322 TRAVELS IN [LETTER IV. 

have been a very imprudent course to have 
taken ; finding that he could not either by- 
good or bad words prevail on us to go, he said 
that his companions would take care that we did 
not stir from Szalt, until we consented to his 
scheme, and went off in a huff. To shew how 
little we feared these threats, we took a walk 
of two hours, and returned in the evening. Some 
of the Mahomedan natives of Szalt insulted us 
on our return. We wished next day to go to 
Amaun, but the son of the sheikh of the town 
told us his father was gone to the Arabs, and 
that he could do nothing till his return. 

March 24. This morning the shiekh's son and 
five other guards accompanied us to visit some 
places in the neighbourhood. The first was a 
village called Athan, situated two hours' distant 
to the N. N. W. There is a ruined village here ; 
we saw nothing of antiquity; but in ascending 
from it we observed some sarcophagi cut out 
of the live rock. We afterwards went to a place 
called Gilhad Gilhood, where there are two old 
tombs ; one of them has since been used as a 
Christian chapel, the natives say it is the birth- 
place of the prophet Elijah. There are some 
sarcophagi cut out of the rock, and other antique 
remains. We visited, in all, five ruined villages, 
which serve at least to shew that the country lying 



LETTER IV.] SYRIA. 323 

five or six miles to the north of Szalt, was once 
more populous than it is at present. Szalt has 
been thought to be the ancient Amathus, but 
we are more inclined to believe it to be Machserus 
where John the Baptist was beheaded. The coun- 
try in general is extremely beautiful and woody. 
On our return to the town we found a black 
messenger from the Benesuckher prince, inviting 
us to go to his camp and adjust our differences, 
but we had determined, if on the following day 
the natives of Szalt refused to conduct us to 
Kerek, to recross the Jordan and proceed to 
Jerusalem, where we could adopt other measures 
for carrying our plans into execution. 

March 29. In the morning, at nine o'clock, 
we quitted Szalt in the middle of a great dispute 
amongst the natives, whether they should or 
should not deliver us up to the Arabs; the tops 
of all the houses were covered with women and 
children to see the result of the fray. On quit- 
ting the house, our interpreter was missing, and 
after waiting some time, we found him concealed 
behind the door crying bitterly. The first object 
we saw was the prime-minister whom we had not 
seen since the twenty-third ; he was in company 
with the black and another Benesuckher Arab, 
and mounting their horses they immediately joined 
us, and endeavoured all they could to persuade 



324 TRAVELS IN [LETTER IV. 

us to go the wrong road, in which they were 
joined by all the Turkish natives of the place, 
who kept bawling to us that we were going 
wrong. Fortunately, when walking out one day, 
we had made inquiries, and had discovered the 
right road to Jerusalem; and, therefore, in spite 
of all their remonstrances, we took the road we 
knew to be right. The plan of the prime- 
minister was, doubtless, to lead us to the Arabs' 
camp and there detain us till they had got what 
they wanted. As we ascended the hill, followed 
by the Arabs, we soon got a view of the Dead 
Sea, the neighbourhood of Jericho, and the plain 
of the J ordan. We had given out that our inten- 
tion was to pass through Jericho on our way to 
Jerusalem; but having deviated from the right 
path shortly after we began to descend, we had 
an idea of passing on to Bysan. One of the Arabs 
quitted us on the brow of the hill ; and when they 
saw that we had ceased to keep the road to Jeri- 
cho, the black- man went also. Both these people 
had, no doubt, for their object, to give information 
to the prince and his party of the track we had 
taken. A little after mid-day, when we had 
nearly descended into the first part of the plain, 
to the minister's surprise and vexation, we turned 
short off to the ford of the Jordan, which we 
saw in the distance, and quitted him, notwith- 



LETTER IV.] SYRIA* 325 

standing his numerous remonstrances; indeed, 
had we continued long in the track we were going, 
we should soon have been amongst some of the 
Benesuckher camps, as we had shortly before 
passed five or six small camps, but of what 
tribe we did not know. We now pushed straight 
for the Jordan, and reached its banks about two 
o'clock. At the foot of the mountains we observed 
some very singular, interesting, and certainly very 
ancient tombs, composed of great rough stones, 
resembling what is called " Kitt's Cotty House in 
Kent." They were built of two long side stones, 
with one at each end, and a small door in front, 
mostly facing to the north; this door was cut in 
the stone. All were of rough stones apparently 
not hewn, but found in flat fragments, many of 
which are seen about the spot in huge flakes; 
over the whole was laid an immense flat piece 
projecting both at the sides and ends. What 
rendered these tombs more remarkable was, that 
the interior was not long enough for a body, 
being only five feet; this is occasioned by both 
the front and back stones being considerably 
within the ends of the side ones. There were 
about twenty-seven of these tombs, very irregu- 
larly situated. The plain, from the foot of the 
mountains, is about half way pretty level, but 
barren; thence it becomes very rugged, consisting 



326 TRAVELS IN [LETTER IT. 

of a quantity of hills, vales, and deep chasms, in 
a dry soil, of a very white appearance and of a 
saltish nature ; this continues to within a quar- 
ter of a mile of the river's bank ; whence the rest 
is a rich, flat plain to the margin of the river> 
which is in the bottom of a deep ravine, beauti- 
fully wooded, and so overgrown, that the stream 
is not seen till you are close to it. The Callah- 
el-Rubbat bore N. E. half N. from the ford. 
Hereabouts it would be interesting to search for 
the twelve stones put for a monument of the 
Israelites passing the river ( 50 ). The water was 
too high for us to search, and indeed we were not 
very much at our ease, with the idea of the Arabs 
being in chase of us. We were detained till 
nearly three o'clock before we could cross the 
river, which, to our surprise, was very much 
swollen ; an Arab, on horseback, arrived shortly 
after us, and as he had no baggage, was well 
mounted, and likely to be acquainted with the 
ford, we requested him to cross first, that we 
might profit by his example ; but like the 
peasants on Mount Lebanon, he refused to lead 
the way. We therefore crossed one at a time, 
the rest directing the progress of the one passing, 
from an eminence on the banks ; the stream was 
exceedingly rapid, and so deep, that we were 
obliged to swim our horses, which, with our fire- 



LETTER IV. j SYRIA. 327 

arms, baggage, and ourselves on their backs, was 
no easy task. We all, in consequence, got 
completely wet through, and all our papers, 
pocket books, &c. were totally spoiled. From 
the river we pursued a direction W. N. W. for 
two hours, into a rich valley ; there was no 
road or track. On the right we passed a 
great cave, with an artificial door ; a labourer 
misinformed us, and directed us up the course of 
a deep, dry torrent in search of a village. After 
wandering in vain till dark, we came to the ter- 
mination of the valley, and saw no signs of any 
path or habitation. It now came on to rain hard 
with thunder and lightning, and we were glad to 
take shelter for the night in a cave used occa- 
sionally by the shepherds ( 51 ). 

March 26. At day-light we were forced to 
retrace our steps, and return to the valley we had 
left, which we found was called Wady Zeit (Oil 
Valley) ; it has a village called Agrarba, which 
we did not see. On entering Wady Zeit, the 
peasants all came out, armed with six muskets 
and their instruments of agriculture. Seeing 
six people mounted, issuing out of an uninhabited 
valley, so early in the morning, they had mistaken 
us for Bedouins. We got from them a guide 
for Nablous. From these people we learnt that 
the Arabs had crossed the Jordan the preceding 



328 TRAVELS IN [LETTER IV. 

evening in chase of us, and failing to get any in- 
formation, had returned to the other side of the 
river. We, therefore, owe our escape to the 
circumstance of having lost our way. We 
observed that this rich valley ends abruptly at 
the foot of the hills to the westward. We 
followed the principal road, which led us out by 
a ravine, to the S. W., and continued in this 
track till about eleven o'clock, when we crossed 
over the hills to the westward. About half an 
hour after mid-day, we reached the village of 
Bait Forage, situated by the side of a rich ex- 
tensive plain, having six other villages on its 
borders, many olive yards, and much corn. We 
were glad to get some breakfast here, after an 
abstinence, with the exception of a few dirty 
raisins, which we found in the bottom of one of 
our hourges, of twenty eight hours, since our 
leaving Szalt. We remained till two o'clock, and 
then proceeded for Nablous, about two hours' 
distant. In twenty minutes we arrived at a 
ruined village called Kaffer Baiter, about which 
are several old Roman tombs and tanks. In 
one of the former we found some dead bodies 
concealed, with the mouth closed with rubbish. 
From thence we went to Nablous, the road 
leading us by Jacob's Well, a short distance 
from which a valley in a southern direction, unites 



LETTER IV.] SYRIA. 329 

with the one in which Bait Forage and the six 
others are situated. Maundrell says, these rich 
valleys are supposed to be " the portion of land 
given by Jacob to his son Joseph." Nablous is 
the ancient Sychem ; we went to the summit of 
Mount Gerizim, and found the ruins of a large 
town, with a tank, near a conspicuous sheikh's 
tomb. 

March 28. We quitted Nablous, and reached 
Jerusalem on the twenty-ninth. For an excellent 
description of Nablous, and also of every thing 
that the pilgrim is shewn at Jerusalem, I must 
refer you to Maundrell ; we took his book in our 
pockets, and visited every place which he men- 
tions, most of them three different times ; once 
by ourselves, once as Ciceroni to Lord Belmore 
and his family, and once in the same capacity to 
Mr. Legh, the same who published his Journey 
in Nubia. We have been to Bethlehem and St. 
John's, were in the sepulchre at the Greek Easter, 
and saw the celebrated trick of the holy fire, &c. 

May 1. We set off with all the pilgrims, es- 
corted by the governour, and a body of troops, for 
the Jordan. The sight was most impressive. 
The immense number of Christians from all quar- 
ters, the various costumes of Greece, the Copts 
from Egypt, the Abyssinians from Ethiopia. 
Some of the pilgrims on camels, with double 



330 TRAVELS IN [LETTER IV. 

cradles on their backs ; some on mules, in cradles 
also ; some on horses ; some on asses ; amounting 
to about five thousand, presented a most curious 
and interesting scene, winding along the road 
amongst the hills, in a line as far as the eye could 
reach, and sometimes appearing through different 
openings in the mountains, in two or three 
divisions. In the evening we arrived at the camp 
near Jericho. We could find no remains of the 
Hippodrome which Josephus places here. 

May 2. At two this morning we started by 
torch-light for the Jordan, which we reached at 
seven o'clock A.M. Here we found all the 
pilgrims bathing in the river, men, women, and 
children, all mixed together. They immersed 
their clothes ia the river, and collected boughs off 
the trees, and bottles of the water to take home, 
in commemoration of their pilgrimage. Maun- 
drell mentions all these circumstances with much 
fidelity. We now went, attended by two Arabs, 
to the Dead Sea, and bathed in it ; the water 
was as bitter and as buoyant as people have 
reported ; those of our party who could not swim, 
floated on its surface like corks ; on dipping the 
head in, the eyes smarted dreadfully, and we 
were much surprised to observe, on coming out 
of the lake, that the water did not evaporate 
from the body as is the case on emerging 



LETTER IV.] SYRIA. 351 

from fresh water, but adhered to the skin, and 
was greasy to the feel or touch. At night we 
reached Jerusalem. To morrow, 

May 6. We start with two Arabs to make 
the tour of the Dead Sea, and search for the sites 
of the cities that are known to haye stood in that 
direction. Our party will consist of Mr. Legh 
and his attendants, Mr. Bankes and his, and 
Captain Irby and myself. We shall muster alto- 
gether eleven people, including two Arabs; we 
have plenty of arms. We calculate that the trip 
will take us about three weeks ; we have all 
dressed ourselves as Arabs of the desert, to excite 
less observation. Lord and Lady Belmore and 
their party have been here about three weeks > 
they came from Cairo by land, having taken the 
same route that we took. Their party is very 
strong, and they had a famous Arab chief's brother 
to protect them. They are all now attiring them- 
selves as Arabs, and are going to visit Baalbec, 
Damascus, &c. after which they embark in their 
yacht for Europe. The friars of the convent had 
a serious dispute in the Holy Sepulchre the day 
before yesterday ; they were performing one of 
their ceremonies, when the Greeks attacked 
them, and wounded several. There has been 
much disputing before the governour in conse- 
quence, and this letter will go with the Tartar 
who carries their complaints to Constantinople 



332 TRAVELS IN [LETTER IV. 

In Maundrell's time there was a similar fray 
between the Greeks and Latins ; and the jealousy- 
has existed ever since. In short, seeing how well 
this author has described every thing worthy of 
notice in this part, we abstain from any particulars, 
and only beg you to remember that there is not 
any one object mentioned in Maundrell's publica- 
tion that we did not carefully examine. When this 
tour is over, we embark at Acre for Cyprus, 
and thence follow the route mentioned in former 
letters. I cannot, however, quit J erusalem without 
mentioning a singular adventure we had here. 
There is amongst the sepulchres which travellers 
have designated as " the Tombs of the Kings," an 
excavated vault with an oblong portico, thus : 




the only visible entrance to this tomb is at one 
end of the portico, while from its construction 
there is every reason to suppose that a corres- 
ponding entrance would be at the other end, which 



LETTER V.] SYRIA. 333 

is now filled with rubbish. Mr. Bankes was so 
thoroughly convinced of this, that when at Con- 
stantinople he used every exertion to procure a 
firman authorizing him to excavate and ascertain 
the fact, but in vain. We now endeavoured to 
obtain permission from the governour of Jeru- 
salem to dig there ourselves; but failed also 
in this instance. Now, as we could not procure 
any legal authority to commence our labours, we 
determined on prosecuting the undertaking se- 
cretly in the night, and accordingly purchased 
privately some pickaxes and implements of hus- 
bandry. Late in the evening we quitted the town 
singly, from different gates, to avoid suspicion, 
and assembling at the rendezvous after dark, 
found we mustered a working party of ten per- 
sons, viz. — Messrs. Bankes and Legh, Captain 
Corry and ourselves, together with five servants, 
including two of Lord Belmore's sailors, whom 
his lordship had allowed to assist us. We divided 
our party into two watches, and worked hard 
four hours at a spell during the whole night, 
digging and clearing away the rubbish. We 
were obliged to spare one of the servants as a 
centinel near the road side, to apprize us of the 
approach of any one. In the morning we had 
got down about ten feet, when we came to an 
immense block of stone, apparently in the very 



334 TRAVELS IN SYRIA. LETTER IV.] 

spot where we expected to find the entrance to 
the tomb. As we were unable even to move this 
mass, we returned to the city tolerably fatigued, 
having been obliged, for want of spades, to clear 
away the rubbish with our hands. The next day 
Captain Corry, Mr. Bankes, and Mahomet his 
janissary, by the advice of Lord Belmore, suc- 
ceeded in breaking the stone by heating it, 
and pouring cold vinegar on it ; but shortly after 
this was done, our proceedings were discovered 
by some Turks, and reported to the governour, 
who put a very effectual stop to our exertions, by 
ordering the whole of the portico to be walled in. 

We send you a certificate from the reverendis- 
simo, of our having visited all the sacred places 
at Jerusalem. 



LETTER V. 



TOUR TO PETRA, AND ROUND THE DEAD SEA. 

Departure from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. — Hebron. — - 
Albaid. — Jellaheen Camp. — Pass south end of the 
Dead Sea. — Arrive at Kerek. — Mahanna. — Medin. — 
Hamahta or Mote. — GharundeL—Shobek. — Petra. — 
Mount Hor. — Return through Shobek. — Kerek. — 
Ghorney's Village. — Rabbath Moab. — Beit Kerm. — 

Diban. Medeba. -Oom-i-Rasass. Heshbon. — 

Arrag-el-Emir—Szalt. — Rabbath Amnion. — Djerash 
—Katty.—Rajib.— Tiberias. — Mount Tabor.— Arrive 
at Acre. 

Constantinople, September 12, 1818. 

Our last letters, dated Jerusalem, in the beginning 
of May, will have apprized you of our intended 
tour round the Dead Sea and to Petra. We were 
then on the point of setting off ; but before I quit 
the former place, it will be necessary to inform 
you of the obstacles which presented themselves, 
and the difficulties which we had to surmount 
before we commenced our journey. It had for 
some time been the wish of Mr. Bankes to under- 
take this tour, as the only two Europeans who 
had ever been at either Kerek or Wady Mousa 
(Valley of Moses or Petra) are both dead, viz. 
Sheikh Ibrahim and Mr. Seetzen. Both these 
travellers, indefatigable as they were, performed 



336 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

this trip alone and in disguise, and were conse- 
quently obliged to conceal their papers, and make 
all their observations by stealth, which must neces- 
sarily have rendered their remarks very brief and 
cursory, compared to what they would have been 
had the writers being unrestrained. Seetzen 
travelled as an Arab, calling himself Moosa, but 
never reached so far as Petra. 

Although we are of opinion that Mr. Bankes, 
solely, could not have succeeded in accomplishing 
this journey without his junction with Mr. Legh 
and ourselves, still he has the merit of being 
the first person travelling as a European, who 
ever thought of extending his researches in that 
direction ; and from his profound knowledge 
of ancient history, as well as his skill in draw- 
ing, he was by far the best calculated to go on 
such an expedition. To give you an idea of 
the difficulties which the Turkish government 
supposed there would be for an Englishman to go 
to Kerek and Wady Mousa, it is necessary to say 
that when Mr. Bankes applied at Constantinople 
to have these places inserted in his firman, they 
returned for answer, " that they knew of none 
such within the Grand Seignior's dominions ;" but 
as he and Mr. Frere, the British minister, pressed 
the point very much, they at length referred him 
to the Pashaw of Damascus (who equally averse 
to have any thing to do with the business), passed 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 357 

him on to the governour of Jerusalem. This latter 
tried all he could to dissuade us from the under- 
taking, though Mr. Legh gave him a handsome 
spy-glass to induce him to assist us. He advised 
us to apply to Mahommed Aga, the governour of 
Yaffa; as the communication between Egypt and 
Mousa, being usually through Gaza, which is 
under Mahommed Aga's government, it was sup- 
posed that he would have the greatest influence 
over the Arabs about Wady Mousa, as possessing 
the means of punishing them for any bad acts they 
may commit, either by stopping their supplies from 
Egypt, or by making prisoners of such of their 
people as come within his reach. The governour of 
YafFa,however,not only evaded the affair altogether, 
but by way of putting a stop, if possible, to our 
journey, ordered back the horses which he had lent 
us. Another visit to the governour of Jerusalem 
seemed to promise as little as the preceding ; we all 
four called on him; on this occasion, a former mot- 
sellim, who had been twenty years in office, and 
was sitting with the governour, pledged himself to 
us that the Arabs are a most savage and treach- 
erous race, and to prove it, added, that they think 
Frank's blood a good medicine to cure their women 
with when sick, and that they would make use 
of our's for this purpose. All that we could pro- 
cure from the governour was a promise to write 

z 



338 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

to the sheikh of Kerek to apprise him of our 
coming, and when we went with the Greek pil- 
grims to Jericho and the Jordan, the governour 
sent a man to us, whom he thought fit to call the 
sheikh of Kerek, congratulating us on the ob- 
stacles to our going to that place having been 
overcome. This man, however, was no sheikh, 
and we suspect the motive of the motsellim for 
sending the counterfeit, was to obtain another 
present. Finding that there was no getting any 
of the public authorities to compromise them- 
selves for our safety, or indeed to render us any 
assistance, we determined to proceed, trusting 
to our numbers and force, and to try our fortune 
with the sheikh of Hebron. Each of the party 
procured a Bedouin Arab dress of the most 
ordinary description, and we all bought horses for 
the journey, except Mr. Bankes, who was already 
provided with them. Our party consisted of Mr. 
Legh, having with him an interpreter, a Tartar 
from Constantinople, and a seyes (hostler). Mr. 
Bankes had with him a soldier of the pashaw of 
Egypt, and ourselves a Christian Arab servant. 
We had for our guide a cultivating Arab, dwell- 
ing near Jericho, named Mahommed, and a man 
belonging to Hebron. We took the precaution of 
having as little baggage as possible with us, send- 
*ng the greater part to Acre with one of Mr. Legh's 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 339 

servants. We each gave ourselves an Eastern 
name for the journey ; Mr. Legh was called Osman ; 
Mr. Bankes, Halleel; Captain Irby, Abdallah; and 
myself, Hassan. Our dress consisted of a frock 
and drawers of very coarse linen ; the frock being 1 
fastened round the waist by a red, leathern girdle^ 
about four inches broad. The head-dress was a 
handkerchief of mixed silk and cotton, coloured 
with broad stripes of alternate red, green, and 
yellow ; this was doubled into a triangular form 
and thrown over the head, to which it was at- 
tached by a double girdle of brown worsted rope. 
One corner of the handkerchief hangs down over 
the back of the neck, and the remaining two 
cover the ears, and come down over the shoulders ; 
these latter, when the weather is cold, the Arabs 
tuck up under the chin, and cover the whole 
face with the exception of the eyes. Over all 
we had the woollen abba, which we had long 
worn, and which we procured at Yaffa ; it is de- 
scribed in the Aleppo letter. For arms, we had 
amongst us six muskets, one blunderbuss, five 
brace of pistols, and two sabres. Our money, 
consisting of small gold coins, was concealed in 
leathern belts round the waist next the body. 

May 6. We left Jerusalem two hours before 
dark in the evening, our party consisting of eleven 
persons, all mounted. We slept at Bethlehem. 



340 travels round [letter ■ v.- 

May 7. At eight this morning we proceeded 
for "Solomon's Pools/' and thence down the 
valley towards the Mountain of the Franks, 
which we ascended; we found it hollow on the 
top, with walls round it, and four towers, all 
much in ruins. This post is said to have been 
maintained by the Franks forty years after the 
fall of J erusalem ; though the place is too small 
ever to have contained even half the number of 
men which would have been requisite to make 
any stand in such a country ; and the ruins, 
though they may be those of a place once de- 
fended by Franks, appear to have had an earlier 
origin, as the architecture seems to be Roman. 
From the Mount of the Franks we could see part 
of the Dead Sea, and the situation of Kerek on 
the other side of it. We took from hence the 
following bearings by compass ; Abou Jane, a 
village on the right, between Bethlehem and the 
Frank Mountain, West.— Bethlehem, N. W.— St. 
Elias, .N. N. W. 

We now proceeded to see the labyrinth. 
On approaching it, we left our horses at the 
ruins of a village called Hariatoon, and proceeded 
on foot by the side of the cliffs on the southern 
side of a deep and picturesque ravine to the 
mouth of the cave, which runs in by a long, 
winding, narrow passage, with small natural 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 341 

chambers or cavities on either side. We soon 
came to a large chamber with natural arches of a 
great height, from this last there were numerous 
passages leading in all directions,, occasionally 
joined by others at right angles, and forming a 
perfect labyrinth, which our guides assured us 
had never been thoroughly explored, the people 
being afraid of losing themselves. The passages 
were generally four feet high, by three feet wide, 
and were all on a level with each other. There 
were few petrifactions where we were ; never- 
theless the grotto was perfectly clear, and the 
air pure and good ( 52 ). In the large chamber we 
found some broken pottery, by which it would 
seem this place had been once inhabited, probably 
serving for a place of concealment. We ob- 
served a few English names written with char- 
coal. We now returned to the horses, and 
proceeded to the southward, to visit the ruins of 
Tekoa. They stand on a slight eminence, com- 
manding several bursts of the Dead Sea, and 
; cover a considerable extent ; this place was built 
by King Rehoboam, and is coupled with Beth- 
lehem ( 53 ). We could not find the remains of 
any distinct temple or public edifice, though 
there are a few fragments of columns. From 
Tekoa we passed through a plain of cultivated 
land, and thence all the way to Hebron, through 



342 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

a much prettier country than that near Jeru- 
salem,, the sides of the hills being richly studded 
with shrubs and dwarf trees in full verdure ; the 
prickly oak, arbutus, and Scotch fir, were most 
prevalent. About five o'clock we passed a village 
called Sipheer by the side of a well cultivated 
valley ; there are about nine Roman sepulchral 
caves near this village. From hence w e crossed 
a rugged road into another plain, where are the 
ruins of a small old convent ; the Jews call this 
" the House of Abraham." We now ascended 
considerably, and passing between numerous 
vineyards, with a watch-tower in each, some of 
which appeared to be antique we reached 
Hebron at dusk : according to Moses, this place 
vied with the best cities of Egypt in antiquity ( 55 ). 
" Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in 
Egypt." Josephus makes it not only older than 
Zoan, or Tanais, but also than Memphis. Here 
Abraham, Sarah his wife, and Isaac died ( 56 ). We 
had this day passed many camps of cultivating 
Arabs, and found them all very civil; towards 
the evening some of them invited us to pass the 
night in their tents. The sheikh of Hebron 
received us very kindly. We were lodged in a 
small praying-room attached to the khan ; it was 
furnished with mats and carpets for us, and we 
were presently served with a beverage we never 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 343 

saw before in the east, — " warm rice milk with 
sugar ;" it was given before the coffee, and in the 
usual small cups. The Turks of Hebron having 
little intercourse with Europeans, are extremely 
jealous of Franks, not one of whom is allowed to 
live in the town, and I believe very few travellers 
have ever visited it ; in consequence we found it im- 
possible to gain admission into the mosque, in which 
is said to be the " tomb of Abraham. 5 * The lower 
part of this building is very curious, evidently 
antique, being formed of great stones, some of 
which are upwards of twenty-five feet in length ; 
it has sixteen pilasters on each side, and eight on 
either end, without capitals, excepting a sort of 
ornamental summit which extends along the 
whole building, and is a species of cornice. 
Above this is a continuation of modern masonry, 
The approach to the entrance of the edifice is by 
a long flight of steps between it and other ruined 
buildings which stand on its S. E. side ; the 
buildings being constructed lengthways, N. E. and 
S. W. I imagine, however, that these outside walls 
only inclose the court which surrounds the mosque, 
and are not part of the mosque itself. The town 
of Hebron is not of large dimensions, though 
its population is great ; the country is cultivated 
to a considerable extent all round it. The 
streets are windings and the houses unusually 



344 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER f. 

high. We visited a manufactory of glass lamps, 
which are exported to Egypt. We were told by 
the governour of Hebron, that there is a regular 
party of pilgrims who set out from thence every 
year, without any escort, depending entirely on 
their own strength; they contrive to fall in with 
the great Damascus hadj near to or at Mecca, which 
is at the distance of thirty days. From a mer- 
chant of Cairo we ascertained the existence of 
great ruins at Abdi, in the Desert, to the south, 
about three days' distance. 

The governour of Hebron made no difficulty 
the first evening about our going to Wady Mousa, 
Kerek, &c. saying, " it w r as an easy matter, 
and he would undertake it." On the seventh, 
however, difficulties began. We visited, after 
dinner, the house of the Jewish priest; there are 
one hundred Jewish houses in Hebron ; we found 
their quarters excessively clean, and neatly white- 
washed ; that of the priest was particularly so ; it 
had a very nice divan, and commanded a fine view 
of the country ; they were very civil, and offered 
us letters to the places we were going to. The 
governour now made a motion to retire, that his 
presence might not prevent our drinking wine, 
but we declined it. We were now shewn the 
synagogue. On our return to the khan, a watch 
was given to the governour by Mr. Bankes ; he 



LETTER V.J THE DEAD SEA. 345 

took it without making any remark at the time, 
but shortly after retired, when a man arrrived 
to say, that the motsellim was not content with 
his present, and had given it to the Jewish priest. 
Soon after, however, another person made his 
appearance, saying, they wished to arrange the 
bargain for paying the guides, &c. ; three hundred 
and fifty piastres were offered, but immediately 
rejected, as three thousand five hundred would 
have been at the first offer. After a second visit, 
however, to the Jew's house, where we again 
found the governour, four hundred piastres were 
paid down, and we were to proceed the fol- 
lowing morning. After supper the governour 
called at the khan ; he appeared to be shuffling 
a good deal, altering the order in which the 
different places were to be visited, but as he 
did not make any material change, still placing 
Wady Mousa before Kerek, we did not much 
care about it. He looked at all the firmans, 
boyourdees, &c. but did not appear to pay as 
much respect as is usual to the firman of 
the Grand Seignior. On observing Mr. Legh's 
Constantinople Tartar, he said, but in a good 
humoured way, that a few years ago, if a Tartar 
had come to Hebron, he would have had his head 
cut off, but that it was not so now. We re- 
quested to proceed on our journey early in the 



346 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

morning, but he said that arrangements could 
not be made for our departure till an hour after 
sun-rise, and soon after he left us. 

May 8. The governour did not make his 
appearance till after eight o'clock, bringing 
with him the three men who where to be our 
conductors and the Jew priest. He was shortly 
after followed by his brother, who had pre- 
viously desired to know, in an indirect manner, 
why he had not received a present as well as 
his kinsman? Lastly came all the law officers, 
and heads of authorities ; these, together with 
the motsellim, advised us to go to Kerek 
direct, and not to Wady Mousa. The gover- 
nour, however, told the guides that there were 
four hundred piastres for them if they chose 
to take us ; but these people, who had, in all 
probability, previously received instructions to 
the purpose, declined conducting us. Finally, 
seeing there was no dealing with such people, we 
mounted our horses and left the town ; but in 
justice to the governour, it should be mentioned 
that he not only returned the four hundred 
piastres but the watch also. When we had got 
outside the town we held a consultation together, 
and finding it impossible to proceed alone, without 
a guide to shew us the road, we sent into the 
town to say we would consent to visit Kerek 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. ^ 547 

first, in the mean time we retired to a neigh- 
bouring olive-yard ; by the return of the mes- 
senger, the governour sent to say, " he would 
have nothing at all to do with our concerns." A 
man on horseback, however, offered to shew us 
the road, and we accordingly proceeded with 
him, but had scarcely advanced half an hour, 
when two men came galloping, and hallooing 
after us ; upon which we stopped in a corn field, 
and sentMr.B.'s soldier, Mahommed, into the town, 
as the governour wished to communicate with us; 
this was about mid-day. Towards two o'clock, 
Mahommed the Arab, who had accompanied us 
from Jerusalem, quitted us ; about three o'clock, 
Mahommed the soldier returned with one of the 
Jews, the sheikh having consented to send us to 
Kerek, with a letter to Sheikh Yousouf. We 
likewise received for a guide one of the Jellaheen 
Arabs. In return for this, the motsellim de- 
manded three hundred piastres, or the watch and 
two hundred : the watch and one hundred and 
fifty were given, as the former was of more value 
than they imagined ; two roubees (five piastres 
and half) were given to the Jew, and he begged 
one for the governour's brother ; a roubee is less 
than two shillings value. We now proceeded ; 
the country was ugly enough, but tolerably well 
cultivated with corn. We passed several ruined 



348 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

sites ; one of them, which they called Hagee, 
stands on a hill, and has a large square building, 
which appeared partly perfect ; we had also 
another on our right, and a column which was 
loo far off to be visited; we afterwards passed 
two Roman excavated tombs, with porticos in 
front, not very interesting ; there are two ruined 
sites near them, to one of which they probably 
belonged. About five o'clock we reached a well 
where we gave our horses water, as the camp 
where we were to sleep was ill provided ; they 
called this well " Al-baid ;" there are two pools ; 
one is small with green water, the other a foun- 
tain in the live rock. There is an ancient site 
N. W. of it, with a wall of large construction, 
and some good masonry ; there are slanting 
passages cut in the live rock, leading to caves 
which have probably served for tombs. 

We reached a Jellaheen camp of thirty tents 
about dusk; it was situated on the summit of 
a hill, an unusual position, as they generally 
pitch their camps in vallies. The harems, or 
parts of each tent allotted to the women, were 
covered in front, and they all appeared particu- 
larly veiled. We found these people uncommonly 
poor in appearance, though they had plenty of 
sheep, goats, and camels; the camp was placed 
in a desert country, the cultivated land having 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 349 

ceased about the well Al-baid. We had mutton 
for supper, but were obliged to find our own 
coffee. An Arab journeyman tailor arrived, and 
was employed making coats of sheep-skins, which 
he dyed red with ochre or some such substance. 
These people said that in years of scarcity they 
retired to Egypt. Our course from Hebron to 
this camp was in a south-easterly direction. 

May 9- We wished to make a bargain with 
the Jellaheens for conducting us to Wady Mousa ; 
but nothing would induce them to consent. 
After much bargaining, they agreed to take us to 
Kerek, if we would give seventy-five piastres to 
the chief, and ten to each of five guides, who 
were to accompany us with muskets. Though 
these people had for a long time refused to accept 
this sum, still, when it was agreed to, they all 
began fighting who should go. After we had 
descended from the camp, we offered five hundred 
piastres if they would conduct us to Wady Mousa ; 
but nothing could induce them to consent. They 
said they would not go if we would give them 
five thousand piastres ! observing, that money was 
of no use to a man if he lost his life, and that 
the people of Wady Mousa were a treacherous 
and cruel race, and always attacked strangers 
by firing at them from rocky eminences, which 
concealing the hostile party gave the others no 
chance. Seeing that all our endeavours were 



350 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V 

fruitless, we ceased to press the subject. We 
had left the camp about eight, and at nine we 
arrived at a well where we watered our horses. 
We remained here about half an hour and then 
proceeded, when our conductors began their 
tricks, by saying they would go no further unless 
we gave them five hundred piastres, the sum which 
we had offered if they would conduct us to Wady 
Mousa; after much altercation, seeing that nothing 
would bring them to reason, we said we would go 
alone, which they defied us to do. We, however, 
left them, taking a course in the desert about 
S. E. by compass, and trusting to our good 
fortune to meet with some Arabs or tents in our 
way. We had proceeded in this manner till 
eleven o'clock, when one of the guides appeared 
in the rear, waving his turban, and making all 
possible signs for us to stop; in about half an 
hour two of them joined us; we were greatly 
rejoiced to see these people return, but affected 
to be quite indifferent about it, to prevent further 
roguery. We now proceeded a little more to 
the south, and about mid-day had a delightful 
prospect, from a slight eminence to the left of the 
road, of the southern extremity of the Dead 
Sea, together with the back-water and plain at 
the end of it. From this view it appeared evident 
that the lake Asphaltis must be of much less length 
than is usually supposed, or than all the ancient 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 3.5 I 

authors have made it out to be. We now began 
a continued descent into a deep, barren valley, 
and did not get to the bottom till near five o'clock, 
passing with considerable difficulty over a path 
so rugged, barren, and full of great stones, that 
we were obliged to lead our horses; at last we 
reached the ruins of an old Turkish fort, standing 
on a single rock to the left of the road; to the 
right there is a pool of green water, tolerable for 
horses, but of which we were glad to drink, 
though an old man was stripped and washing him- 
self in the middle of it at the time; it was about 
fifteen feet wide; we filled our skins. Further 
on the same side, the cliff is excavated at a con- 
siderable height with loop holes; possibly meant 
for a post from whence a sentinel might see all 
passengers, and apprise the castle of their ap- 
proach. It would appear that this was a sort of 
" barrier" where duties were levied on the passers 
by; they call the place El Zowar. From hence 
we passed through a pretty, gravelly ravine, with 
bushes of the acassia tree, and another bearing 
a small stone fruit, resembling in taste a dried 
apple ; the Arabs call it " doom," though it is a 
very different tree from the doom palm. About 
six we entered the great plain at the end of the 
Dead Sea; for about a quarter of an hour we 
had a few bushes, and afterwards found the soil 
sandy and perfectly barren. On our right we 



352 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

had a continued hill of a sandy soil, running in a 
S. E. and N. W. direction towards the middle of 
the plain. At dark we stopped for the night in 
a ravine at the side of this hill, much against 
the wishes of our guides, who strongly urged 
the want of water, and the dread of the dytch- 
maan, as inducements to make us proceed. 
We collected a quantity of wood which the 
Dead Sea had thrown up at high water-mark, 
and endeavoured to make a fire in order to bake 
bread, as we had flour. The wood was, however, 
so impregnated with salt, that all our efforts 
were unavailing, and we contented ourselves 
with drinking the flour and water mixed, 
which though not very palatable, still served to 
appease our hunger. All night our guides, not 
being able from fear to sleep themselves, endea- 
voured to prevent us by alarms of the dytchmaan. 

May 10. In the morning, at the very dawn 
of day, we proceeded across the plain ; for 
the first half hour we had still the before-men- 
tioned sand hill on our right. We found, ex- 
clusive of the saline appearance left by the retiring 
of the waters, several large fragments of clear 
rock-salt lying on the ground, and on examining 
the hill, we found it composed partly of salt and 
partly of hardened sand. In many instances the 
salt was hanging from cliffs in clear perpendicu- 
lar points like icicles, and we observed numerous 



LETTER V.J THE DEAD SEA. 353 

strata of that material of considerable thickness, 
having very little sand mixed with it. * Strabo 
mentions " that to the southward of the Dead 
Sea there are towns and cities built entirely of 
salt f and although such an account seems 
strange, yet when we contemplated the scene before 
us, it did not appear very improbable. The tor- 
rents, during the rainy season, had brought down 
immense masses of salt, and we observed that the 
strata were generally in perpendicular lines. 
Leaving this hill, the plain opens considerably to 
the south, and is bounded at the distance of about 
eight miles, by a sandy cliff, from sixty to eighty 
feet in height, which runs directly across and closes 
the valley of el-Ghor, thus forming a margin for 
the uttermost limits of the Dead Sea to the south- 
ward, when the waters are at their greatest 
height. We were told that the plain on the top 
of this range of cliffs continues the whole way to 
Mecca, without any interruption of mountains. 
It appeared to us that the mountains to the west- 
ward of the Dead Sea gradually decreased their 
height to the southward, while those to the east- 
ward continued to preserve the same altitude as 
far as the eye could reach, and appeared to be of 
a reddish colour, resembling granite. Leaving the 
salt hill, our track led for an hour and a half 
across the barren flats of the back-water, now 

A A 



354 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

left dry by the effects of evaporation. We passed 
six drains into that part more contiguous to the 
main sea, where the water still remains ; some 
were wet and still draining, others were dry. 
These had a strong marshy smell, similar to what 
is perceivable on most of the muddy flats in salt 
water harbours, but by no means more unpleasant. 
I imagine this to have given rise to the unfavour- 
able reports of the ancients, of the disagreeable 
smell of the waters of the Dead Sea. The water 
on the main body of the lake is perfectly free from 
any smell whatever. We now entered into a very 
prettily wooded country, with high rushes and 
marshes ; leaving these, the variety of bushes and 
wild plants became very great, some of the latter 
were rare and of remarkable appearance. Oc- 
casionally we met with specimens such as none of 
our party had ever seen before ; a botanist would 
have had a fine treat in this delightful spot. 
Amongst the trees which we knew, were various 
species of the acassia, and in some instances we 
met with the dwarf mimosa; we saw also the doom 
mentioned above, the tamarisk, and the plant which 
we saw in Nubia, and which Norden calls "the 
oschar." There was one curious tree which we 
observed in great plenty, and which bore a fruit 
in bunches, resembling in appearance the currant, 
with the colour of the plum; it has a pleasant 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 3.55 

though strong aromatic taste, exactly resembling 
mustard* and, if taken in any quantity, produces 
a similar irritability in the nose and eyes to that 
which is caused by taking mustard. The leaves 
of this tree have the same pungent flavour as the 
fruit, though not so strong. We think it pro- 
bable that this is the tree our Saviour alluded to 
in the parable of the mustard seed, and not the 
mustard plant which we have in the north ; for 
although in our journey from Bysan to Adjeloun, 
mentioned in the Jerusalem letter, we met with 
the mustard plant growing wild, as high as 
our horses heads, still, being an annual, it 
did not deserve the appellation of a tree ; 
whereas the other is really such, and birds might 
easily, and actually do take shelter under its 
shadow. We passed the wild cotton plant 
amongst an infinity of others that we neither 
knew how to name or describe. In about half an 
hour we arrived at the little river, which is 
marked in the map, and improperly placed as 
Futlet ; the people told us it was the " Nahr-el- 
Hussan," or horse river ; there was plenty of corn 
cultivated in the open grounds between the 
bushes. Our guides told us not to talk, lest we 
should be discovered by the natives ; but this was 
what we wanted, in order to get something to 
eat, the flour and water of the preceding night not 
having been very satisfying. We soon met some 



356 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

of the natives taking in the harvest ; they were a 
wild looking people, and wore leathern aprons 
reaching to the shoulders, a dress we had never 
seen before ; they addressed us with great civility, 
and on our telling them we were soldiers of the 
Aga of Jaffa, going to Kerek, they said they 
wished that more would come amongst them, as 
they were much oppressed by the Bedouin Arabs, 
whom they described as a bad set of people, 
caring neither for God nor the saints. They took 
us to their bivouack in the thicket, saying that 
their village was some way off, and that they 
were only remaining here to take in the harvest. 
They gave us to eat some doom, dried and 
pounded into a sort of coarse meal and mixed 
with butter; we found it exceedingly good; 
about half an hour afterwards they brought us 
bread, butter, and milk. We were annoyed here 
with large horse flies, which were in great num- 
bers, and some of our animals were streaming 
with blood. We were told at Kerek, that these 
flies were " a plague sent by the Almighty at the 
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah ;" and that 
no Turk when praying, is allowed to kiss the 
earth in the customary manner there. These 
people are called Goahrnays, and differ mate- 
rially, both in manner and appearance, from the 
Arabs, as well as from the natives of the towns ; 
they adhere to one place of abode, and cultivate 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 357 

the land in its vicinity. They do not live in tents 
like the Arabs, but build huts of reeds, rushes, 
and canes; they construct their buildings conti- 
guous to each other, and form their villages in 
the shape of a square, with only one entrance for 
the cattle, which are thereby prevented from 
straggling, and are kept more collected for pro- 
tection during the night. These people treated 
us very hospitably, which they would naturally 
do, taking us to be soldiers of so powerful a man 
as Mahommed Aga ; but we never heard any other 
than a bad character of them ever after. Before 
we left them, they threshed out some corn with 
great sticks for our horses. The women com- 
menced the labour, but as they could not work 
and hide their faces at the same time, the men dis- 
missed them and did the work themselves. On 
our taking leave, we offered them a handsome 
reward for what we had had, but they absolutely 
refused, and held out for a good quarter of an 
hour, notwithstanding all our intreaties ; at last 
we threw the money amongst them, when a most 
furious battle took place about the sharing it 
out. We could not refrain from laughing most 
heartily at so odd a scene, and at eleven, left 
them fighting and beating each other most furi- 
ously. We now crossed the Houssan, our horses 
smarting from the bites of the unmerciful flies, and, 
unable to resist the refreshing influence of the water, 



358 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

quietly laid down in the middle of the stream, 
leaving us no alternative but to dismount and walk 
out. We proceeded along the foot of the mountains 
which bound the east side of the plains, and con- 
tinued in this manner till near five in the afternoon, 
our track being rugged and barren in the extreme, 
with innumerable fragments of red and grey gra- 
nite ; grey, red, and black porphyry ; serpentine 
stone; beautiful black bazalt, breccia, and many 
other kinds of stone scattered in every direction, 
all fragments from the neighbouring mountains. 
Hereabouts it may be presumed the ancients 
procured materials for the numerous handsome 
columns which one meets in Syria, and which 
now adorn the Turkish baths, mosques, &c. 
Mr. Seetzen, who was a geologist, if he 
passed over this ground, must have been 
highly gratified. Our two companions each 
made a collection of all the specimens they met ; 
some of these were beautiful, and well adapted 
for vases or other ornaments. We found that the 
chain of mountains under which we were passing, 
was chiefly composed of sand stone and bad mar- 
ble, together with the various kinds of minerals 
we have just alluded to. At five, we had reached 
the tongue of land, which lies between the south 
end of the Dead Sea and its back water, and from 
hence we began to ascend the hills on our right. 
At six we stopped in a beautiful shady ravine, 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 359 

watered by the river " el-Derrah," whose banks are 
covered in profusion with the palm, acassia, 
aspine, and oleander, in full flower and beauty, 
perfuming the whole place, and rendering it a 
most delightful spot, particularly when contrasted 
with the desert appearance of its neighbourhood. 
I will here insert the relative distances of the 
principal objects we passed this day. Two hours 
and a half from the western cliff of the Ghor to 
Rahk, the first salt water drain ; half an hour to 
Saphy,the nahr-el-Hussan ; three hours fromSaphy 
to the Honey river, nahr-el-Assel ; from thence 
two hours to Mare ; and two more to el-Derrah. 
We passed the night here ; Mr. Bankes took a 
sketch of the spot, as well as another of that part 
of the Dead Sea which is seen from it. 

May 7. This morning, shortly after the 
rising of the sun, we began to ascend the moun- 
tain ; the road was very rugged and stony, with 
hardly a vestige of vegetation. The rocks were 
of a dark sand stone. On our left we had a deep 
ravine. Three men shouted from a height, and 
asked " where we were going to ?" — they had 
only one gun. About eight o'clock we reached 
a commanding point, where the road turns in its 
ascent; here we had an excellent bird's-eye view 
of the south end of the Dead Sea and the back- 
water. The delay which it required to take a 
sketch of it, gave time to the men who had hailed 



360 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

us to come up ; two were blacks ; they accosted 
us very roughly,, examining us with great scru- 
tiny. They were armed,, but still we were as 
strong as they were. Mr. B., Captain I., and 
myself were alone, with our Christian Arab 
servant, Mr. Legh and his party having gone on 
before ; the strangers remained with us. As 
soon as the sketch was finished we began to 
ascend to the rest of our party, and in our way 
were surprised by seeing five other men armed 
with muskets, peeping from behind a rock at 
some distance from the road ; after hesitating a 
moment, they came forward and questioned us 
about where we were from, and the place of our 
destination, &c. By this time we had joined Mr. 
Legh and the rest of the party ; and having sa- 
tisfied the curiosity of these people, we proceeded 
on our journey. 

Our road now was on a sort of terrace scarped 
out on the side of a romantic ravine, with vast 
fragments, each as large as ordinary houses, 
which had been detached from the sides of the 
precipices, and were lying below in confused 
heaps; some were only just cracked off, and not 
yet fallen. About a quarter of an hour after 
meeting the strangers, we came to a small deposit 
of water, under an olive tree; here some of the 
same men we had left behind came up with us 
again, and called out loudly to us to come and 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 36 1 

eat bread with them; but as we did not like 
either their appearance or suspicious conduct, 
the rest being visible in the distance running to 
join their comrades, we continued our route. 
As we advanced we began to find ourselves in 
corn fields, with cattle grazing in the valley on 
our left, through which the river Souf Saffa 
runs towards the Dead Sea ; we observed the 
ancient mill-courses, but the river itself was hid 
by the richness of the vegetation on its banks, 
especially the purple oleander in full olossom. 
The castle of Kerek now opened on our view, 
but not any part of the town, which lay behind 
the castle. The ruins of the castle on this side, 
that is the N. W., present two principal features ; 
a great mass at the south angle of the town, and 
more towards the north, a great building called 
the Seraglio of Meleh-e-daher. Between these 
two is the only gate of entrance on this side — 
the west. It is no more than a plain, narrow 
arch, with an Arabic inscription over it. This 
entrance is very singular, the arch being fitted 
to the mouth of a natural cavern, or passage in 
the rock, which leads with a winding course 
through a high ridge of the natural rock, and 
has thus been made to serve as the principal 
avenue to the fortress. The form of the hill on 
which it stands is not advantageous on this side, 



362 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

being rather long, and the buildings upon it 
straggling. High as the town stands, it is com- 
manded on every side. In our approach we 
descended moderately into the narrow valley at 
the foot of the castle hill, where runs a stream 
with a narrow line of gardens on its banks, in 
which we observed olives, pomegranates, and 
figs, with some vegetables. The ascent from 
hence is steep and toilsome to a great degree; 
we all dismounted, entering at the cavern gate 
already described. We soon found ourselves within 
the walls, with the seraglio on our left hand ; the 
houses do not come very close upon that part of 
the fortification, though there are ruins and 
foundations every where, seeming to announce 
a greater population formerly. There are the 
remains of a mosque with pointed arches, and 
an octagonal minaret, with a band of black stone 
carried round it; the whole is much in ruins. 
Over the door-way is a pointed horse-shoe arch, 
like that at the khan at Bysan, and amongst 
the ornaments is the cup repeated several times. 
The houses are of one story, terrace roofed, and 
so constructed that the roof at the back is in 
many of them not above the level of the ground; 
in many instances you may pass over the houses, 
even on horse-back, without being aware of it; 
some have a little court before them. The prin- 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 363 

cipal chamber in the best buildings has two 
arches thrown across it, on which rest the rafters, 
not squared and very smokey ; a small hole in the 
centre serves as a vent for the smoke; and im- 
mediately under it, in the centre of the room, is 
a circular hearth with a rim raised round it. In 
the recesses between the opening of the arches 
are raised platforms which serve as shelves; there 
are also receptacles for corn, with bung-holes in 
the manner of casks, for taking it out. The 
walls are daubed with rude paintings in 
red and black ; we observed particularly an at- 
tempt to represent a horseman, and in another 
instance a kneeling camel, with a man mounting 
"Ig^^v H^&o^ ; this will give you some idea 
of them. There is not a vestige of antique work 
in the castle; but considered as Mahommedan 
architecture it is good, especially at the south 
end, where the live rock has been cut down in 
order to detach the ridge from the fortified hill to 
which it was by nature joined; it is probable; that 
the hollow, furnished materials for the building 
above, as at the " Callah-el-Rubbat," &c. Two sides 
are left standing up across this artificial ravine 
in the manner of walls. The most remarkable 
thing that we observed was a christian church 
within the enceinte of this part of the castle; ] it 
is very ill constructed with small stones, and some 



364 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

pillars are laid horizontally into the masonry, form- 
ing quite a contrast to the Mahommedan work, 
which is of large, well cut stones, laid in regular 
courses. This church has small narrow windows, 
and a circular end and arched front, resembling 
that at Tiberias, which is called the house of St. 
Peter, but which is evidently posterior to the 
first Mahommedan conquest, as there is an Arabic 
inscription built upside down into the present 
walls. It is probable, therefore, that both are the 
works of crusaders; and as Godfrey de Boulogne 
took Kerek, and called it Mons Regalis, it is 
likely he or some of his successors may have 
built this church. There are remains of paint- 
ings of large groups of figures on the stuccoed 
walls; one seems to have represented a king in 
armour, another the martyrdom of some saint, by 
twisting out his bowels ; and there is an imperfect 
inscription with letters of the Gothic form; the 
castle seems to be more ancient than the church. 
We found a few remnants of antiquity; first, a 
small column of deep coloured red granite, well 
polished but ill shaped ; secondly, another of grey 
granite ; and thirdly, not far from it, close to a 
well, a great wing of sculpture in basso-relievo, 
bearing much resemblance to those which we 
used to see attached to the globe in Egyptian 
buildings. We could form no conjecture what 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 365 

it was; there is no trace of the globe; pos- 
sibly it was the wing of a Roman eagle; its 
length was seven feet, and breadth four. Near 
the mosque are three capitals, resembling no 
regular order of architecture, but similar to 
some that we saw at Hamah. We found two 
Greek inscriptions, but neither of them interest- 
ing. The place is well supplied with water by 
numerous cisterns. Sheikh Yousouf was absent 
at a camp about half a day distant, passing the 
honey-moon with a young Arab wife he had just 
married; we were very well received by Abdel 
Khader the sheikh's son. Few questions were 
asked, and less attention excited than might have 
been expected. There was a merchant from 
Damascus; the distance on a swift dromedary 
is five days, but the ordinary travelling is ten; 
another merchant was present from Hebron. 
The women here do not cover their faces at all, 
or keep out of sight; the utmost they ever con- 
ceal is the point of the chin. We sat and con- 
versed familiarly with several of them. We 
were well fed, horses and all, for nothing. 
Amongst our company was a man who re- 
presented himself as a great traveller ; he had 
been to Tripoli, Aleppo, Mardyn, and Cyprus ; he 
had never been to Constantinople, and said he had 
no desire to go there, because he had heard that a 
man could not beat out his pipe without burning 



366 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER Vi 

the house down, and that justice was so strictly 
administered, that persons ran the risk of having 
their heads cut off while they were talking in the 
streets. It appeared that few if any of them 
knew the name of the present sultan; it was 
also a curious example of the liberty of speech 
in these remote corners, that our traveller 
added r " that they respected the sultan because 
it was their interest to do so, on account of com- 
merce, &c. but as to the pashaws, they were no 
better than themselves, and that it was a degrada- 
tion to stand in a humiliating posture with the 
head stooped, and the hands hidden before one of 
them, when here, a man might loll at his ease in 
his own house, and stand or lie in whatever posture 
he pleased." We were invited out to dine one 
day at a Turk's house, and treated to a boiled 
sheep, without bread or any thing but the meat 
itself; this custom we first observed at Szalt, 
and to our great annoyance found the same prac- 
tice on the east side of the Dead Sea, &c, not only 
amongst the Arabs, but in the towns and villages. 
It appears that the Wahabees made an attempt 
on Kerek, and were encamped for several days 
on the heights south of the town; one of them 
was sent in to parley, and the inhabitants boast 
of having killed about forty of them, from the 
loop holes of the castle, with their muskets. 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 367 

May 1 3. Towards the evening, Sheikh Yousouf 
arrived without his bride ; he was a fine looking 
old man, apparently nearly sixty years of age ; 
he had lost his front teeth, and his beard was 
white. Upon being told the motive of our tra- 
velling in these mountains, he asked rather 
roughly " whether this was the country of our 
fathers ;" but we soon found him to be a plain, 
blunt, honest old man, of very few words. Only 
one man in the town could read, and he was the 
Greek priest. He read to Yousouf the letter 
from Sheikh Eysah of Hebron, without which we 
have reason to think we should have had a much 
colder reception. It appears that the governour 
of Jerusalem deceived us, and never wrote to 
Kerek at all. We got the Greek priest to be a 
mediator in arranging the business with Yousouf, 
and as we had for once to deal with an honest 
man, we had not much trouble ; for in fact 
the negociations the next morning were hardly 
closed, before the horses were ordered to be in 
readiness. Four hundred piastres were paid down 
as the price of a safe conduct through several 
places, specified in a list, as far as Wady Mousa, 
to the south, and Szalt, to the north ; but the 
old man could not undertake to free us from 
some incidental tributes on the road. Yousouf 
pledged himself to accompany us through the 



368 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

whole journey. During our stay at Kerek, we 
saw the dowry of a young woman going to be 
married paid at the sheikh's house ; it amounted 
to about one hundred piastres, in white Constan- 
tinople money. This I believe was only what 
she was to wear as her head ornament, as the 
ladies here decorate their foreheads with dollars 
and different kinds of money ; sometimes they 
hang down to both ears, and must really be a 
great weight. The amount of a dowry is some- 
times as high as four purses ! There are about 
as many Christian inhabitants in Kerek as Turks ; 
the former boast of being the strongest and 
bravest, and are able to produce four hundred 
men bearing arms ; they are on very good terms 
with the Turks, and appear to enjoy equal free- 
dom with them. It was said that at the time of 
the French invasion in 1 799, there was a project 
for disarming the Christians and driving them out, 
which the present sheikh prevented. We saw, 
and were recognised by several of the suspicious 
people we had met on our road the day of our 
arrival ; they asked us why we did not stop to 
eat with them ? but their concealment, and the 
manner in which they first came upon us, looked 
as if they meant no good. 

May 14. In the afternoon we set out from 
Kerek to the southward ; we descended into the 



LETTER V.] (THE DEAD SEA. 3^9 

ravine which surrounds the place, having tire 
main body of the castle close on our right hand, 
the base of which is here a slanting casing of the 
rock, as at Horns, Aleppo, &c. From hence we 
passed up the side of a narrow ravine to its very 
end. On each side there are caverns and 
wrought tombs, in one of these, which had all the 
appearance of a natural grotto externally, we 
observed places for sarcophagi; it is probable that 
the whole is the burying place of the ancient 
town. In this ravine is a spring of water, with a 
small Turkish building. Here we were joined by 
an Arab from Djebal who had been forced away 
by the Wahabees, and had lived and served with 
them ; almost all his fellow-townsmen had been 
put to death. He was upwards of a month at 
Dareyah their capital, which he describes as 
being larger than Kerek. The houses are all 
built with mud, and the fortifications with mud 
and palm trees ; there are cannon on the walls, 
and an immense treasure buried and concealed. 
He said that the Wahabees prefer silver very 
much to gold, for which no reason was given. 
He confirmed the relation of their horses being 
fed at times entirely on camel's milk. He was 
mounted on one of that breed, a light leggy 
horse, very different in appearance from those of 
the Arabs ; he seemed to think the Wahabee sect 

B B 



370 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

very general, and said, jokingly, that Sheikh 
Yousouf was one, which the other denied with ap- 
parent horror. We ascended into a country of 
downs, with verdure so close as to appear almost 
turf, and with corn fields at intervals ; the rock did 
not appear much, though the surface was sprinkled 
over with stones. In an hour and a half we 
reached a camp belonging to the people of Kerek 
under Sheikh Ismayel, Yousouf's youngest son. 
After taking some leban (sour milk) and bread, we 
proceeded to the N. W. about a mile, across some 
corn land, to a ruined village called Mahanna. 
The ruins are mostly of ordinary buildings, but 
it is evident that one them was a Christian 
church ; another ruined site to the westward was 
called Dgellgood. The following ruined sites 
are visible from this point : Machad. Arti-Mus- 
shut, (which is the single building supposed to 
be tomb of Abou Taleb) Harnahta or Mote, 
Toor, Howeeh, and Marrowhich. We now went 
due east for an hour to Medin, from whence we 
could see the following ruined sites, most of them 
on slight eminences ; Imriega, E. by N., Hadad, 
Shirsee, Behlanah, Suhl, and Nehkill ; in short, 
the whole of the fine plains in this quarter, are 
covered with sites of towns on every eminence or 
spot convenient for the construction of one ; and 
as all the land is capable of rich cultivation, there 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 371 

can be little doubt that this country, now so 
deserted, once presented a continued picture of 
plenty and fertility; hereabouts, 1 think, must be 
the quarter alluded to by the Arabs, when they 
made the report to Volney, which we have 
quoted in page 310 of this volume. Having 
finished our survey of the neighbouring ruins, we 
returned to Ismayel's camp were we slept. 

May 15. This morning we were off before sun- 
rise; the same downs continued, with numerous 
Arab camps in various directions, the ruined sites 
being still in numbers all around us. In about 
a quarter of an hour we came to the site of 
Hamahta or Mote, which last name, signifying 
death, it acquired from the circumstance of 
all its inhabitants having been exterminated by 
Abou Taleb, whose reported tomb "Musshut"is a 
building upon arches which appears to stand in a 
small enclosure, and is less than half a mile 
distant to the W. S. W. Near this spot, on 
another site, is a Roman mile stone, inscribed in 
Latin, the number of miles is thirteen, but the rest 
is indistinct; it may have been thirteen miles from 
Rabath Moab. In about a quarter of an hour 
from Mote we reached the tomb of Sheikh Jaffa ; 
here the Mahommedans of our party alighted, and 
entered the tomb to pray. Mahommed the 



372 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

soldier reported, that within there are two dark 
granite columns well polished. A quarter of an 
hour farther we reached the camp of Sheikh 
Sahlem, who commands, or has influence at 
Djebal, and over all the country as far as Shobek. 
This man asked us two hundred piastres in lieu 
of thirty, which old Yousouf said was all he 
would require ; we refused it, and Sahlem per- 
sisting, we mounted and retired to a distance. 
Upon our leaving the tent he expressed a wish 
" that we might be struck with lightning before 
we reached Kerek," and added, " that had not 
Sheikh Yousouf been present with us, he would 
have had our money by force." Finding, however, 
that he did not follow us, we sent back to offer 
one hundred and fifty piastres ; the bargain was 
struck, and the money counted into his hands. 
He mounted his horse, and accompanied us, to- 
gether with his son, a fine young man ; in about 
half an hour he brought us to another large 
camp of his tribe of thirty-three tents. Having 
remained a short time here, we proceeded, unat- 
tended, about two miles off, to visit the ruins of 
Dettrass. At the foot of the hill are many cis- 
terns ; the ruins are indistinct and of no interest, 
except three piles of buildings which appear to 
be of Roman architecture \ one was evidently 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 373 

a temple ; the others, though large, are so 
much ruined that it is impossible to ascertain 
what they have been intended for. While we 
were examining these ruins, the people from the 
neighbouring camps flocked round us in conside- 
rable numbers, but were very civil. We returned 
to our camp in the evening, and observing that 
all the old women, and many of the young ones, 
had their cheeks covered with blood and 
scratches, we enquired the reason, when they told 
us they had mourned the day before for a death 
in one of the harems. 

May 16. We recovered the track which we 
had quitted, where it falls into a deep ravine, 
having a very steep descent, with wild rocky 
sides. At the extremity, where we turned out of 
this track to follow a more rapid and deep descent 
into the Wady-el-Hussein, we saw upon our left 
hand, on the height, the remains of an ancient 
fortress, which seems to have commanded the 
pass ; it is of dry masonry and large stones, and 
is no doubt antique ; they give it the name of 
Acoujah. As we proceeded downwards, there 
was on our right hand a great quantity of lava 
and black volcanic stone, which seem to have 
issued from the side of the neighbouring ridge of 
mountains. We presently reached the little rivu- 



374 TRAVELS ROUNJ) [LETTER V. 

let called el-Hussein at the bottom of the ravine ; 
it has in some parts pitted for itself a very deep 
channel in the live rock, and there are occasionally 
some small though picturesque water-falls from 
ten to fifteen feet in depth. The oleander, 
as usual upon the banks of most streams in 
this country, was in great beauty and pro- 
fusion. From hence we began to ascend a more 
steep acclivity than that we had come down- 
It is observable that the sides of this valley, el- 
Hussein, are more destitute of verdure than the 
plains above. We continued our course up a 
slanting hollow, in which we noticed the stones 
gathered into heaps, and converted into fences ( 57 ), 
in a manner which seemed to denote an abandoned 
cultivation, and we observed a field or tw r o of 
corn near a little spring. A little further, upon 
the point of a sort of promontory of high land 
that stands between the fork of two vallies, are 
the ruins of a small but rich building ; little or 
nothing is left entire, but all the fragments 
are lying in confusion. There are rich Ara- 
besque borders of vines and foliage, much in 
the taste of Diocletian's buildings at Palmyra, or 
the triumphal arch; the capitals are not of any 
regular order but fanciful, and loaded with or- 
naments ; the execution is sharp and neat. The 
temple appears to have fronted S. S. W. and 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. $75 

there were apparently four semi-columns attached 
to the front wall, three feet five inches in diame- 
ter ; amongst the fragments are pieces of columns 
of a smaller diameter. There are other vestiges 
of building near, but nothing that gives reason to 
suppose there ever was a town. The great dark 
mass of volcanic matter which we passed, bears 
from these ruins N. N. E., it is called Elabahn, 
the name also of a clear spring issuing from the 
rock a little south of it. There are old mill- 
courses in the low ground. The ascent still con- 
tinued for a short distance, when we reached 
the level of the high plain in a S. S. W. direction. 
There were reapers at harvest who informed us 
that the chief persons of the town of Djebal 
were encamped ; this induced our two sheikhs to 
turn to the southward, out of the great track, 
towards the encampment. At one in the after- 
noon we reached a camp of thirty-three tents, 
having travelled six hours this day. A feeble 
attempt was made here to extort money from us, 
under pretext that the sheikh was independent. 
Upon our mentioning our intention of visiting 
their village, Djebal, which was two hours' dis- 
tant, objections were raised against it; we 
therefore left it for our return. There were 
some small specimens of volcanic stone in the 
valley near to the camp, but not in any great 



376 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

quantity. Near this we visited some uninteresting 
ruins called el-Hagre. Some person in this camp 
secreted a spy-glass which had dropped from Mr* 
B.'s pocket ; after confessing that it had been 
found, and was in the camp, they attempted to 
force him to give an extravagant rew r ard; this 
was obstinately refused ; and by the intervention 
of Sheikh Yousouf it was recovered with difficulty 
for two rubees, We supped as usual on mutton 
without bread. 

May 17. After we had set out, Daoud, a rela- 
tion of the sheikh of Kerek, missed his sword, and 
rode back for it, but the rogues refused to restore 
it to him. Passing to the southward, in about 
half an hour we saw the village of Bsaida about 
a mile distant. About and beyond this village 
there are hanging woods of some extent, but the 
trees are small and stunted. From hence, in 
three hours, the descent becoming more conside- 
rable as we advanced, we reached the ruins which 
are called Gharundel. They are situated on the 
slope of a hill, and their extent is very considera- 
ble. Towards the centre of the ruins are the 
remains of two parallel rows of columns, of which 
three are standing in one row, and two in the other; 
their diameter is two feet ; none have capitals. 
There are also, near to this spot, fragments of 
columns of three feet diameter; the capitals ap- 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA.. 377 

pear to be bad Doric. A spring of water runs 
close below these ruins from Gharundel. We 
passed up a valley to an Arab camp ; they were 
Bedouins of the tribe of Hadjeyah. While we 
were eating with these people, there was an 
alarm of an enemy having made an attempt to 
carry off some of their flocks ; the women cried 
out and waved their scarfs from the top of the 
hill. We rode up, but saw nothing of the 
offenders. Our road was S. W.: a white line 
in the desert, at a considerable distance to the 
left, as far as the eye could reach, was pointed 
out as the hadj road to Mecca. We noticed 
three dark volcanic eminences, very distinguish- 
able from the sand ; the lava that had streamed 
from them forms a sort of island in the plain. 
Close on the right of the road was another volcanic 
mount, covered with scoriae of a reddish colour, 
and in substance extremely light; there was much 
black porous stone below it. Soon after we 
found an ancient Roman high-way paved with 
black stone; the edges, and a line down the 
middle, were paved pretty regularly. On the 
right, at intervals of about a mile and a half, are 
ruins of square stone buildings ; there was a 
cistern in one ; they were probably intended for 
the use of travellers. Proceeding in a direction 
parallel to this road, we saw, towards the S. W. 



378 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V, 

a large mass of ruins, called el-Gaig, they offered 
no interest. We found three mile-stones ; the 
last only was erect ; all the inscriptions were 
effaced by time and the climate. From one of 
these stones we turned off, about a mile from the 
road, to examine some buildings, but found them 
Turkish : one had an Arabic inscription over the 
door, which appeared ancient. Some crosses 
were scrawled about the door, and these signs 
are three times repeated + xn. Seeing some 
Arabs in the distance to the south, we returned 
to our companions, who had advanced just a 
Roman mile on the road, and were waiting at 
another mile-stone. We still followed the road 
till we came to the edge of a deep vale ; here 
we deviated to the right and descended, the 
original road continuing straight on the height. 
At the S. W. end of the vale rises a hill, upon 
which stands " Showbac," like a gigantic mound ; 
at its foot the ground is terraced out in gardens, 
and thickly planted with figs, now in full ver- 
dure. There are numerous caves in the side of 
the hill. Nearly at the bottom of our descent 
we passed a sheikh's tomb, called "Abou Soliman;" 
from thence passing a ravine, or dry torrent, we 
approached the town on its N. E. side by a zig- 
zag path, which seems to be the only one leading 
to it. It appeared, in ascending, that almost all 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 379 

that side of the castle-hill has once been covered 
with buildings. Our coming seemed to excite 
considerable alarm amongst the natives, who 
stood on the walls shouting and throwing down 
stones. We entered at an iron gate, when the 
inhabitants seeing Sheikhs Yousouf and Sahlem 
with us, received us very civilly, some crying out, 
" Go and get bread and fire-wood for these poor 
fellows, who are come to lodge a night amongst 
us." We were carried up to a sort of divan, in 
the open air, constructed upon what seemed 
to be the ruins of a church of crusade architecture, 
standing due east and west. The tower of the 
castle has Arabic inscriptions, which appear to be 
Mahommedan. The three doors of the supposed 
church are square topped, and the centre is 
under a pointed arch, and has more the air of 
Mahommedan than Christian architecture. We 
had a boundless view from hence, comprising 
the whole skirts of the desert, with the volcanos 
which I have mentioned above. They brought 
us figs split and dried, of a very green colour 
and delicious flavour, tasting nearly like the 
fresh fruit; they told us they were on the 
trees when the pilgrims arrived at Damascus; 
this was in December. We observed much 
kissing in the salutations; each party gene- 
rally kissed the right cheek first, once, and then 



380 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V 

the left four or five times ( 58 ). They evinced, 
their good breeding by suppressing their curiosity 
as to the motive of our journey, whence we 
came, &c. though evidently labouring under the 
greatest anxiety to know every particular. 
Shortly after our arrival we had an alarm of 
Arabs ; thirty men, with guns, immediately ran 
out ; others were driving in the flocks in great 
haste ; they returned in about an hour, saying, 
the Arabs had killed forty of their goats, but 
that they would find an opportunity of returning 
the compliment ; we, however, doubted the truth 
of this story. The name of Showbec, or Shobek ( 59 ), 
occurs among those who sealed the covenant. 
After a diligent search for inscriptions, we found 
one in the architrave of the principal door ; it is in 
Latin, and though imperfect, Mr. Bankes made so 
much of it out, as to leave no doubt that it was a 
work of one of the Frank kings of Jerusalem. One 
oi their principal strong holds, somewhere in this 
direction, was called " Mons Regalis ;" this might 
either be Kerek or the place in question ; though 
Miletius, extending their conquests still further, 
says, that this name was applied by them to 
Petra, and, relying upon some passages in Dio- 
dorus Siculus, says, that it seems to have borne 
that name in the historian's time. The most 
remarkable circumstance is, that while the inte- 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 381 

rior parts of this church are in the pure Gothic 
style, resembling that of the same age in Europe, 
the ornaments of the inscribed door-way are of 
the genuine eastern taste, exhibiting that border 
of convex fluting which is common in Turkish 
buildings; the pointed arch itself inclines slightly 
inwards at the bottom, in the manner of a horse- 
shoe. The construction also has more of the 
Oriental than the Norman style ; the transome, 
in lieu of consisting of a single stone, being com- 
posed of many, irregularly locked together by 
dove-tails and angular inequalities. In the walls, 
at the gates of Antioch, are similar examples, 
and certainly of the time of the crusades. 

May 18. Quitting Shobek, we wound by a 
spiral road into the valley which surrounds it, 
and observed that the road had been artificially 
deepened, and in some parts cased with masonry. 
From thence we ascended to the S. W. and 
soon came to a brook which contributes to the 
watering of the gardens below Shobek, but is 
not the only supply. Upon the two parallel 
ridges, between which our road led, we noticed 
stones arranged in fences and gathered into 
heaps, denoting the boundaries of former fields 
and gardens; and near the spring there appeared 
the remains of a village. Our course continued 
much in the same direction, between west and 



382 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V* 

S. W. for about a mile,, gently ascending till we 
arrived at a large Arab camp, situated upon high 
ground, with still higher about it. Here we 
expected to have found the Sheikh " Mahomrned 
Abou Raschid," that is to say, Mahomrned the 
father of Raschid, which latter is the title he goes 
by. Most of the sheikhs have some denomination 
of this kind to distinguish them. " Mahomrned 
Aga," for instance, is called " Abou N about," 
(the master of the mace or stick;) and in Sir 
Sydney Smith's transactions at Acre, his principal 
coadjutor, the pashaw, was surnamed " Dgezar," 
which in Turkish signifies the " Cutter." Sho- 
bek, and the great district about it, is commanded 
by Abou Raschid. He was absent on our arrival, 
but messengers were dispatched to acquaint him 
with our coming. From this camp another was 
in sight to the southward, and beyond it a hill 
thinly scattered with trees. We were hospitably 
received. A merchant whom we had known at 
Hebron came in, complaining that he had been 
robbed of twenty-eight pieces of merchandise, 
which he had brought to sell amongst the Arabs ; 
they had lain bands on the goods in their tents, 
and refused to give them up. At particular 
seasons of the year the inhabitants of these tents 
are in the habit of passing to Cairo, whence they 
carry on the charcoal trade between that city and 
Suez; they said it was a five days' journey from 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 38'5 

hence to Suez. In passing into Egypt they 
usually take the road to Gaza, though they seem 
to be fully aware of the shorter way; it is, there- 
fore, only for the sake of security. At Shobek 
there was a small caravan to set out the morrow 
of our departure; the owner of it offered to 
carry us to Cairo in eight days, computing two 
to Gaza, and eight thence. 

May 19. About noon Abou Raschid arrived. 
He was a middling sized man with very marked 
features, having a dark complexion, very dark 
beard, black piercing eyes, and aquiline nose; 
his age might be about thirty. He was full of life 
and spirits, but rather a man of few words, and 
plain, unaffected manners. We had always heard 
him spoken of in great raptures in the camp, ever 
since our arrival. Having dined with us, the Hebron 
merchant pleaded his cause before him, when he 
presently gave orders " that his goods should be 
restored to him." On our part, he very soon came 
to terms with us, assuring us that he would wil- 
lingly conduct us to Wady Mousa for nothing, for 
the sake of Mahommed Ali Pasha of Egypt. Soon 
after a great dispute and tumult arose in the tent, 
Abou Zatoun (the Father of the Olives), the sheikh 
Wady Mousa, declaring with violent gestures, and 
swearing u by the beard of the prophet," and "by 
the honour of their women," that we should not 



3S4 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

go forward ; and seeing that, notwithstanding his 
violence, both Ahou Raschid and ourselves were 
preparing our horses, he quitted the tent, uttering 
threats and execrations, and rode off for Wady 
Mousa, determined to prevent our going. All the 
Wady Mousa people also quitted the camp, joining 
in their chief's hostility to our advance, repeatedly 
exclaiming, " Let the dogs go and perish if they 
please ;" and swearing we should neither drink 
of their water (^°) nor pass into their territory. 
While this was passing, our good old man Sheikh 
Yousouf's resolution was shaken, and both he and 
Sahlem of Djebal strongly urged us to return 
and give up the business, representing all future 
perseverance as fruitless. Abou Raschid twice 
dismounted to answer the arguments of his people, 
or to overcome their opposition, as they had sur- 
rounded him in numbers, imploring him to desist, 
and asking him " why he risked himself for the 
mere gratification of our curiosity, who were only 
Christians." The sheikh seeing that all his argu- 
ments had no effect, seized his spear and sprang 
on his horse, exclaiming, " I have set them on their 
horses, let us see who will dare to stop Abou Ras- 
chid." We presently descended in a south by 
west direction, through a ravine whose sides, rocky 
as they are, have at some time been terraced up 
and cultivated. The Wady Mousa people rode in 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 383 

a parallel line with us, keeping on the high ground 
on our left. In about half an hour (four o'clock) 
we reached a source that issues from the live rock, 
and is called Sammack ; here we were joined by a 
host of people, all armed, and subject to our sheikh, 
some were on horseback and some on foot ; two 
double-mounted dromedaries also arrived. Sheikhs 
Yousouf and Sahlem still remained behind at the 
camp we had left. Abou Raschid, on the coming 
up of his people, took an oath ( 6l ), " By the honour 
of their women," and " by the faith of a true Mus- 
sulman," that we should drink of the water of 
Wady Mousa, and go whithersoever he pleased 
to carry us. Thus were both the rival chiefs op- 
positely pledged in their resolution respecting us. 
To the honour of Abou Raschid it should here be 
said, that as yet he had not received, or even sti- 
pulated for any pecuniary or other reward 
whatever. As we advanced down the ravine, a 
wild and romantic view opened to us, terminated 
by the peaks of the black and rugged ridge of 
Mount Hor, the same that is alluded to in 
Scripture, and by a boundless extent of desert 
view, which we have hardly ever seen equalled 
for singularity and grandeur. We turned 
up out of this valley to the eastward, and 
remarked as we quitted it, that there were 
two small masses of ruins upon two opposite 

c c 



386 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

points which command it : they were, perhaps, 
forts. Our way leading through a circular 
plain covered with corn, and bushes of white- 
thorn just coming into blossom, conducted us to 
a valley with the sides prettily studded with 
turpentine trees, so clustered and grouped 
together, as to give it a very parkish appearance ; 
here we perceived traces of a paved way, con- 
structed similarly to that we had quitted when 
we were descending into Shobek, and which 
we thought to be a continuation of the same. 
At sun-set we alighted at a camp of sixty-eight 
tents, pitched in three adjoining circles, on the 
highest point of a pass ; our whole journey this 
day was S. W. three hours. The pass just 
mentioned was not between two mountains, but 
on the highest summit of one of them great 
part of these heights being so steep as to be 
almost inaccessible, except by the beaten tracks. 
One of these precipitous falls of ground was 
close to our camp to the westward ; it commands 
a most magnificent view, in which the fore-ground 
is a circular, but uneven hollow, in part cultivated, 
with several circular camps pitched in different 
parts of it, and the little village of Dibdeba, 
with a grove of fig-trees about it, bearing S.W. 
The dark ridge of Mount Hor, which appears to 
be altogether composed of a sort of sparry flint, 



LETTER V.J THE DEAD SEA. 387 

broken into masses and seamed with wide crevices, 
with scarcely any verdure to vary its deep purple 
colour, forms the boundary of this hollow to the 
southward, and also to the westward, with that 
high peak, upon which is the reputed tomb of 
Aaron, (the Arabs call it Nebi Aaroon, Prophet 
Aaron) rearing itself above all the rest in the mid- 
dle of the picture. This craggy ridge does not, 
however, terminate the landscape ; the mountain 
from which we viewed it being considerably higher, 
and commanding a boundless view beyond it, over 
a whitish expanse of country, which is varied here 
and there with other coloured ridges rising like 
islands upon it, or jutting forward into it like 
promontories. The violent rains of the night 
of the twenty-first and twenty-second supplied 
the feature of water to this varied landscape, 
forming a glittering line in the distant plain. 
S. W. by S., as far as the eye could reach, 
is a range of mountains, in which the natives 
pointed out Mount Sinai. We were told it 
was at the distance of four days ; they also 
reported " Agaba," an inhabited place on the 
Red Sea, as distant a day and a half from us ; 
and Mahn on the hadj road one day off. A 
place which the Arabs call Gereye was like- 
wise mentioned as being four days' to the east- 
ward^ or S. E., where are very extensive ruins, 



388 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V, 

In front of our tent there passed an ancient 
road ; no remains can be traced of pavement, 
but merely two parallel lines of low, dry wall, 
set at the distance of about twenty-five feet 
apart. 

May 20. We followed the road in its passage 
downwards to the S. W. for half an hour, when we 
reached another camp, subject, in some measure, 
to our chief; we had passed over the sites of two 
others abandoned by the adverse party during the 
night ; these sites are always distinguishable by 
the fires and bed places of the Arabs ; the former 
are marked by little holes filled up with ashes, the 
latter by stones laid in oblong circles, with dried 
heath and dead boughs laid on them. 

An eminence, about S. W. of this last camp, 
commanded a view over Wady Mousa, bearing 
south ; it seemed an inconsiderable village, in 
a low situation, with a few fig trees about it. 
Nebi Aaroon and Dibdebar were also visible from 
this point, but we were admonished to go to the 
brow of the precipice, only one at a time, and were 
afterwards prohibited altogether. There were 
some very odd-looking people in this camp, some 
of the men having long hair of a tawny colour, 
plaited in small plaits, very much in the Nubian 
manner, but without grease, and a handkerchief 
of a brown colour, instead of the usual gaudy 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 389 

stripes, confined, in lieu of the plain cord, by 
a brown, flat band, worked in with patches of 
coloured woollen, and standing up above the head ; 
their sandals, which however are not peculiar 
to them, as we had observed them in many 
other instances, are simple and curious, having 
a thong coming up on each side of the foot from 
the sole, and another between the toes ; a single 
tye fastens them on. The women had a peculiar 
way of plaiting their braided hair across the 
forehead, which had the air of a formal wig. 
The female children had the same leathern aprons 
ornamented with shells, &c., which are in use in 
Nubia. 

From the break of day we had been apprized 
that the adverse party were fully prepared to 
stand to their word in opposing us; that they 
had removed several of their camps, and that a 
large part of them had abandoned their village 
of Wady Mousa to occupy a height which com- 
manded it. We could see the tents which they 
had pitched there, as the distance from our ad- 
vanced camp was very moderate; they had also 
moved their cattle with them. Messages, some- 
times of persuasion, and oftener with threats, 
were continually passing; a small detachment of 
the hostile party passed our tents, but refused to 
eat in them; they were suffered to go on, un- 



3£K) TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V„ 

molested. In the afternoon a large deputation 
arrived, sufficient to fill the whole tent ; a confer- 
ence was immediately commenced with them; 
they never personally appealed to us ; but carried 
on the conversation with Abou Raschid only. It 
was in vain that the authority of the sultan or 
of the pashaws was dwelt upon in our favour; they 
got rid of the firmans, by insisting that they did 
not understand Turkish, and after having a 
boyourdi of Sali, pashaw of Damascus, delivered 
into their hands, they said it was a fabrication of 
the Jews, who are the pashaw's ministers. Not 
argument only, but even artifice and falsehood 
were employed in our favour; our friend Abou 
Raschid asserting that we had with us a person 
on the part of Soliman, pashaw of Acre, (our 
servant was the person whom he pointed out as 
such) and a letter from the governour of Yaffa ; 
which, however easy to have procured, we were 
not provided with. The adverse party, in some 
of their conferences, insisted much on seeing 
something under the hand of the last-mentioned 
governour, whose recommendation, we have reason 
to think, would go farther in this country than 
that of any other person. It was however in 
this instance only captiously asked for, on the 
presumption that we had it not to produce. 
« Abou Raschid urged repeatedly, that in the 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 391 

event of their not complying, we could use our 
influence with the several pashaws to cut off their 
communication entirely with Malm, Gaza, and 
Egypt; and he insisted upon our taking down 
the names of the refractory chiefs, which were^ 
Abou Zatoun (Father of the Olives,) sheikh of 
Wady Mousa, and commanding the Howetatt 
Arabs ; Kali Phee, of the same place ; Lehaddineh 
Hinde, and the adherents of even Ebn Jarzee, 
who was himself rather disposed to our side. 
Our champion advised us, in the presence of these 
people, to instigate Mahomed Ali to lay hands on 
some of them whenever they should come to 
trade at Cairo. These people said on their first 
coming, " that we were very lucky in the protec- 
tion of the chief who accompanied us, for other- 
wise we should never have returned." They 
pretended to believe that we had a design of 
poisoning the water. 

In the evening there was a very loud thunder 
storm; and as all that could be said or threaten- 
ed seemed to have no effect upon our opponents, 
and as there was neither food for us nor forage for 
the horses in the tents, we returned, and slept at 
the same camp as on the preceding night. It was 
the full of the moon, a dismal cold rain came on, 
which, for the space of two or three hours, pene- 
trated the covering of our tent, and until a 



392 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

trench was dug along the inside of the back 
curtain,, it flowed in upon us from the high 
ground; the goats and sheep were continually 
encroaching, and at last even a cow. 

May 21. A thick fog prevailed, so that even 
the opposite side of our camp was not visible; 
we heard very noisy councils in the adjoining 
tents, and it was soon after announced to us, 
that " war was positively determined on," as the 
only alternative of our not being permitted to 
see what we had desired, and to drink of the 
water. Messengers were dispatched to the camps, 
under Abou Raschid's influence, and to Shobek, 
to apprise them of the circumstance, and to re- 
quest immediate reinforcements; the presence of 
Sheikh Yousouf aud Sahlem was also required. 
A poor matronly woman, in the other half of our 
tent, was looking over the partition with her 
child in her arms, shedding tears occasionally, and 
throwing in arguments of dissuasion. It was in 
vain that we agreed to give up Wady Mousa altoge- 
ther, and declared that we had no desire to taste 
of the water; the antiquities, which are distant 
from the village, being the only object of our 
curiosity. Our chief, who was a man of few 
words, stood always to his point, and declared 
that we should not only see the place, but even 
bathe in the waters; and, that if fair means could 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 393 

not compass this, he had sworn to accomplish it 
by force. 

The messages which arrived in the course o^ 
the morning from the opposite party, were only 
a renewal of protestations and oaths against our 
entering their territory ; and they even threw out 
menaces of cutting off our return from where we 
were ; thus situated we could not but compare 
our case to that of the Israelites under Moses, when 
Edom refused to give them a passage through 
her country ( 62 ). The circumstance must like- 
wise have occurred nearly in the same place, as 
the death and burial of Aaron on Mount Hor ( 63 ), 
whose tomb was now before us, would seem to con- 
firm. About mid-day, when the weather was 
somewhat clearer, we perceived a number of armed 
men, some mounted, coming up the valley from 
the north-eastward ; the horsemen were Sheikhs 
Yousouf and Sahlem, with their own attendants, 
and some few others with lances ; the total num- 
ber of these was seven ; the infantry followed, 
with their match-locks and muskets, to the 
amount of upwards of sixty. They drew up into 
something like a line near the camp, and ap- 
proached it shouting, the women answering with 
their usual screams of exultation from the tents, 
lee, lee, lee, lee, &c. ( 64 ), but they were not suf- 
fered to stand exposed in the way; such as had 



394 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

come out being rudely warned back into their 
tents by the men. The sheikhs of Kerek and 
Djebal were conducted, each by separate open- 
ings, into the camp, to the tents allotted to 
them; we found them dispirited and discom- 
posed at what had happened, and at the con- 
sequences which were likely to ensue. They re- 
minded us of their having dissuaded us from press- 
ing the matter any farther at the camp where we 
had last parted, and in their conferences with Abou 
Raschid gave him such advice as might be expected 
from persons of their years ( 65 ) ; old Yousouf par- 
ticularly, like Nestor in the Iliad, dwelt much 
upon what had passed in his youth, and upon 
wars in which he had engaged and had found rea- 
son when too late to repent of. He told his stories 
with a great deal of grave action ; but his coun- 
sels had more effect upon the rest of his audience, 
than on the spirited young Arab to whom they 
were addressed, who continued staunch in his 
determination of waging war ( 66 ), and could not 
be induced even to shift his ground so far as to 
confine his demands in our favour to the sight 
of the antiquities only ; strenuously persisting that, 
as we had put ourselves under his protection, we 
should go wherever he was pleased to carry us. 

A deputation arrived from the enemy, and the 
old sheikhs tried every argument that experience 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA* $95 

could suggest to induce them to permit us to go 
forward ; they were denounced as rebels in the 
case of non-compliance, and the consequences 
were painted in the strongest colours. No effect 
was produced by these conferences. Our party 
was continually gaining strength by armed per- 
sons dropping in from various directions until 
night. The reinforcements were distributed 
amongst the different tents, and rations were re- 
fused to such as had not brought guns or spears. 
The camp now began to assume a very warlike ap- 
pearance ; the spears stuck in the sand, the saddled 
horses before the tents, with the arms hanging 
up within, altogether had an imposing effect ( 6? ). 
Perceiving that such a concourse of strangers 
must distress the camp, we begged to be per- 
mitted to pay for our food and that of our horses, 
but Abou Raschid would not hear of it ; all was 
gratuitous, and our animals had abundance. 

One circumstance seemed to turn in our fa- 
vour; Hindi, an Arab chief of very poor and 
ordinary appearance, and almost blind, was 
represented to us, as a man of great power and 
influence, who could command two thousand 
guns ; and though this was probably an exagge- 
ration, yet from the effect which his interference 
appears to have had in the sequel, it seems pro- 
bable that he is a chieftain of considerable power. 



396 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

He had been upon ill terms with Abou Raschid, 
yet from the time of our first conference with 
him at the advanced camp, he had seemed dis- 
posed to favour our pretensions, and to dissuade 
the hostile party from their obstinate opposition, 
more especially as he professed great respect for 
the written orders of the Turkish government. 
On the other hand, it was said that there was 
a strong party among his adherents inclined to 
prevent his co-operation ; however, towards the 
evening of this day, he made a solemn peace with 
our chief, and passsed into the enemy's quarters, 
with the intention of bringing all his men to act 
in concert with Mahommed Abou Raschid, in 
open war against them in case of their persisting 
another day. Some communication was also 
made by letter, but in whose name we did not 
learn. The answer was expected, but did not 
arrive this night. Towards dark there went a 
rumour throughout the camp, that our oppo- 
nents had given in, and that we should be at 
liberty on the morrow to go where we pleased. 
We laid down with this impression on us, and it 
was pretty general throughout all the camp. 
Our chief seemed proud of matters having been 
brought to a favourable end so soon, and said 
exultingly, " that there were some who had 
the talent of carrying their point with saying 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 397 

very little, while others who made a great 
noise were obliged to give way, and behaved like 
cattle." 

The same dismal weather continued ; about 
midnight there was a cry of thieves in the camp, 
and it was found that they were very quietly 
sitting at our fire ( 6s ) ; but as there were some of 
our people not yet asleep we lost nothing. In 
the morning we heard that two spies had also 
been detected in the camp ( 69 ), but it did not 
appear that any further measures had been pur- 
sued against them, than their dismissal. 

May 22. The fog was still thicker ; we were 
surprised to find that this weather was not deemed 
unusual or out of season. It was announced to 
us that the men of Wady Mousa did not adhere to 
their agreement, but in the plainest terms had 
declared, " that they would oppose us by main 
force, and that we should pay with our lives for 
any attempt that we should make to advance 
within their limits." It appeared that they had 
even thrown up some sort of fortification about 
the well. Upon our declaring that we did not 
wish matters to be pushed to extremities, and 
again persisting in confining our desires to the 
sight of the antiquities only, Mahommed would 
hardly listen to the bearer of the message, and 
scarcely came to see us during the whole day. 



393 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

Armed reinforcements in small numbers were 
continually dropping in. For the last two days, 
since the negociations had been pending, we had 
seen so very little of our friend Abou Raschid, 
that we feared he was displeased ; and it appeared 
that he had avoided us from the moment we had 
offered to abandon our object rather than to 
proceed to extremities. 

May 23. In this predicament we found our- 
selves this morning ; the result of Hindi's decla- 
ration was expected with impatience, and almost 
every one seemed to think that it must have 
great weight with the enemy. We however 
heard that their party had also had an accession 
of two neighbouring tribes of Arabs who had 
declared against us. Old Yousouf was this day 
unusually eloquent in our favour giving out that 
we were believers in Mahommed, and that our 
only motive in wishing to advance, was to pay our 
devotions at Aaron's tomb, thus giving a very 
plausible turn to the motive of our Journey ; when 
asked " if we were of the true faith," he always 
replied " they are English." He recapitulated 
the list of the documents with which we were 
furnished, roundly asserting that we had recom- 
mendations from Yaffa and Egypt, though he knew 
that we had them not, and he attached much im- 
portance to the presence of our soldier and Tart ar 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 399 

from Constantinople. He mentioned all the places 
we had visited in the country, particularly Pal- 
myra and Szalt ; adding, that this was the first 
time we had been stopped. He dwelt again, in 
the true character of an old chieftain, on the events 
of wars that had happened in his early days. His 
drift was to carry matters by fair means if pos- 
sible, and to restrain the impetuosity of Abou Ra- 
schid, whom he warned of the usual effects of hasty 
measures, and, for the first time alluded to an old 
grudge which the people of Wady Mousa bore to- 
wards him, on account of the fate of three or four 
of their fellow townsmen whom he had beheaded 
at Kerek. The tone, however, of old Yousouf was 
considerably changed, and he seemed not alto- 
gether so adverse to hostilities as he had hitherto 
been ; he said, * c I too could bring out the men 
of Kerek," and he spoke of their numbers and 
courage, but he did not pledge himself to bring 
them out. 

In the course of this morning it had been dis- 
covered that one of the ruins which we were in 
quest of was in sight from our mountain ; it proved 
to be that which we called the palace; it was 
discernible through a narrow strait formed by 
two craggy cliffs, which gave it a very pictu- 
resque appearance. By following the brow of 
the mountain we gained a sight also of the 



^00 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

theatre cut out of the live rock, and of several of 
the tombs. Though they were at a considerable 
distance we could make them out pretty well 
with the help of a spy-glass; this sight was a 
great encouragement to us, as it appeared pos- 
sible to reach the spot without passing at all near 
the enemy's quarters ; and we began to concert 
among ourselves some means of getting there 
secretly in the night, should all other expedients 
fail. While we were deliberating on this subject, we 
saw a great cavalcade entering our camp from the 
southward. There were many lances and mounted 
Arabs, and we observed that there were some 
amongst the horsemen who wore richer turbans, 
more gaudy colours, than is usual amongst Bedou- 
ins or peasants. As the procession advanced, several 
of Abou Raschid's Arabs went out, and led the 
horses of the chiefs by the bridles into the camp. 
The whole procession alighted at the tent of our 
chief, and kissed his turban; this was the signal 
of pacification. Peace was immediately pro- 
claimed throughout the camp, and notice was 
given that the men bearing arms who had come 
from a distance, many of whom had dropped in 
that very morning, were to return to their re- 
pective homes. 

Our late opponents were now willing to con- 
sent to our setting out that afternoon ; but by 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 401 

the general wish it was deferred until the next 
day. We heard music and singing in several 
of the tents. One of the chiefs of the party who 
had been adverse to us, came very shortly to pay 
us a visit; amongst other things, he said in his 
excuse that he had misconceived the object of our 
journey ; having supposed us Frenchmen who 
came with a design of poisoning the water; they 
dissembled the real motive of their change of 
conduct, which there can be little doubt was fear, 
and imputed their concessions entirely to their 
respect for the sultan and the pashaws. To make 
the matter more formal, there came a person who 
was in the employ of the pashaw of Damascus, with 
two attendants, to read and examine our papers. 
It proved, however, that he was wholly unac- 
quainted with the Turkish language, and in con- 
sequence confined himself entirely to the boyour- 
dees of the two pashaws, which he declared to 
be satisfactory and sufficient, although, in point 
of fact, they were altogether foreign to the 
question, being addressed to persons and places 
in quite a different part of the country. This 
man, in recompence for his decision, in the course 
of the evening attempted, through old Yousouf, 
to lay claim to some remuneration, but Yousouf 
fought off his pretensions, by asserting, that for his 
own part he had not seen the colour of our gold ; 

D D 



402 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

which was so far true, as the four hundred piastres 
were deposited in the hands of the Greek priest 
at Kerek. 

In the evening we were visited by Abou Raschid, 
who was in high spirits; the weather had been 
considerably clearer this day, but it was still 
much colder than might have been expected at 
this season of the year. During the day we had 
explored the high land to the eastward of the 
camp, and found it covered, upon both its sides 
and on its summit, with lines of dry wall, and 
solid masses of the same. The former appeared 
to be the traces of former cultivation ; the solid 
ruins seemed to be only the remains of towers ( 70 ) 
for watching in harvest and vintage time. The 
whole neighbourhood of this spot bears similar 
traces of former industry, all which seem to indi- 
cate the vicinity of a great metropolis. 

May 24. The morning was less unfavourable 
than those which had preceded it. Soon after 
sun-rise we set out from the camp ; there were 
in all about fifty persons, amongst whom were 
the deputation from Wady Mousa and the men 
of Damascus, who had passed the night in the 
tents of our chief. The first part of our road 
was the same which led to the advanced camp 
where we had been on the twentieth ; but before 
we reached that spot we turned off from it in an 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 403 

E. S. E. direction, constantly descending. As we 
got lower down, we passed into a rocky and steep 
defile, where the footing is extremely bad, and 
the passage so commanded from the sides, and 
intersected by huge masses of sand-stone detached 
and rolled down from above, that it was obvious 
that a very small force would be capable of 
holding it against a great superiority of numbers. 
Towards the lower extremity of this pass the 
path branched off two several ways ; it had 
previously been whispered to us by our chief, 
that we should not seem to take any notice of 
it, but let the men of Wady Mousa go their way, 
while we should follow one of our own party, 
who would go forward and guide us in a different 
direction. When we reached the point of separa- 
tion, the others not being apprized of this deter- 
mination, said all they could to induce Abou 
Raschid to ascend to their tents, and came even 
to high words with him, but they could not pre- 
vail, he having sworn an oath, that neither we 
nor himself should eat or drink at their expense, 
or within the limits of their territory. Some few 
even followed us for a time, hoping to persuade us 
to turn back with them, but before we reached the 
valley of Wady Mousa they had all withdrawn. 

Our defile brought us directly down into this 
place, whose name had become so familiar to 



404 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

us ; it is, at the point where we entered it, a 
stony but cultivated valley of moderate size, 
without much character or beauty, running in a 
direction from E. to W. A lesser hollow, . sloping 
down to it from the southward, meets it at an 
angle ; at the upper end of the latter valley is the 
village seen over stages of hanging fruit-grounds 
and gardens, which are watered by a spring. 
At the point of junction of these valleys a source 
issues from the rock and forms a brook, to which 
the other is contributary ; to this Abou Raschid 
pointed, with a sneer of exultation, as we crossed 
it, observing, " there is the water about which 
there has been so much contention and dispute." 
It flows towards the westward, and is, in point of 
fact, the head of the stream which Pliny has dig- 
nified with the name of a river. We approached 
no nearer to the village than this point, but as 
the distance did not exceed a quarter of a mile, 
we could plainly perceive that there was nothing 
ancient there ; that the houses were mean and 
ragged, and not more than forty or fifty in 
number. On the summit of a broad, green hill, 
rising above it, we could not only distinguish 
the large encampment to which the inhabitants 
had retired on the night of the twentieth, but 
could plainly see them collected in great numbers 
on the brow looking down and watching us. 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 405 

Some hundred yards below this spring begin 
\ the out-skirts of the vast Necropolis of Petra. 
Many door-ways are visible, upon different levels, 
cut in the side of the mountain, which towards 
this part begins to assume a more rugged aspect ; 
the most remarkable tombs stand near the road, 
which follows the course of the brook. The first 
of these is on the right hand, and is cut in a mass 
of whitish rock, which is in some measure insu- 
lated and detached from the general range. The 
centre represents the front of a square tower, 
with pilasters at the corner, and with several 
successive bands of frieze and entablature above ; 
two low wings project from it at right angles, and 
present each of them a recess, in the manner of 
a portico, which consists of two columns whose 
capitals have an affinity with the Doric order, 
between corresponding antes ; there are, however, 
no triglyphs above. Three sides of a square area 
are thus enclosed ; the fourth has been shut in by 
a low wall and two colossal lions on either side 
of the entrance, all much decayed. The interior 
has been a place of sepulture for several bodies. 
On the front are little niches and hollows cut, 
as if for the reception of votive offerings. 
Farther on, upon the left, is a wide facade of 
rather a low proportion, loaded with ornaments 
in the Roman manner, but in a bad taste, with an 



406 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

infinity of broken lines and unnecessary angles 
and projections, and multiplied pediments and 
half pediments, and pedestals set upon columns 
that support nothing. It has more the air of a 
fantastical scene in a theatre than an architec- 
tural work in stone ; and for unmeaning richness, 
and littleness of conception, Mr. Bankes seemed 
to think, might have been the work of Boromini 
himself, whose style it exactly resembles, and 
carries to the extreme. What is observed of this 
front is applicable, more or less, to every specimen 
of Roman design at Petra. The door-way has 
triglyphs over the entablature, and flowers in the 
metopes. The chamber within is not so large as 
the exterior promises ; it has a broad, raised 
platform round three sides, on which bodies were 
probably disposed. Immediately over this front 
is another of almost equal extent, but so wholly 
distinct from it, that even the centres do not 
correspond; the door-way has the same orna- 
ments. The rest of the body of the design is no 
more than a plain front, without any other deco- 
ration than a single moulding. Upon this are 
set, in a recess, four tall and taper pyramids ; 
their effect is singular and surprising, but 
combining too little with the rest of the ele- 
vation to be good. Our attention was the 
more attracted by this monument, as it pre- 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 407 

sents, perhaps, the only existing example of 
pyramids so applied, though we read of them as 
placed in a similar manner on the summit of the 
tomb of the Maccabees, and of the Queen of 
Adiabagne, both in the neighbouring province of 
Palestine. The interior of the mausoleum is of mo- 
derate size, with two sepulchral recesses upon 
each side, and one in form of an arched alcove at 
the upper end ; a night of steps leads up to the 
narrow terrace upon which it opens. The sub- 
joined cut may convey an idea of some of these 
singular excavations. 




The sides of the valley were now becoming 
precipitous and rugged to a high degree, and 
approaching nearer and nearer to each other, so 
that it might rather deserve the name of a ravine, 
with high detached masses of rock standing up 
here and there in the open space. Of these the 



408 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

architects had availed themselves. In some in- 
stances the large and lofty towers are represented 
in relievo on the lower part of the precipice, and 
the live rock is cut down on all sides, so as to 
make the resemblance complete. The greater 
number of them present themselves to the high 
road, but there are others which stand back in the 
wild nooks and recesses of the mountain. All 
seemed to have been sepulchral, and it was here 
that we first observed the features of a sort of 
architecture that was new to us, and is, perhaps, 
not elsewere to be found. 

To erect quadrangular towers for sepulchres, 
seems to have been the fashion in several inland 
districts of the east ; they abound at Palmyra, 
and are seen in the valley of Jehoshaphat near 
Jerusalem, &c. : but the details and ornaments of 
these, universally betray an imitation of Roman 
architecture, whilst at Petra they bear all the 
marks of a peculiar and indigenous style ; their 
sides have generally a slight degree of that incli- 
nation towards each other, which is one of the 
characteristics of Egyptian edifices, and they are 
crowned with the Egyptian torus and concave 
frieze. A very remarkable superstructure rises 
above as a parapet. Two corresponding flights of 
steps are represented in relievo, ascending in oppo- 
site directions, from two points near the centre, 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 409 

thus — ^p 2 ; they are connected together by a 
horizontal line drawn between the uppermost 
steps, and there are usually from four to six. At 
the angles are pilasters ; in many instances they 
have a considerable diminution upwards ; the 
capital is very peculiar, and appears like the 
rough draft of an unfinished Ionic capital as it 
comes from the quarry. It is, however, almost 
universal on these tombs, and may be called 
the Arabian order of architecture. An entab- 
lature and frieze, little differing from the Ionic 
or Corinthian, rests upon these pilasters ; above 
that is a blank space, in the nature of a low attic, 
which is finished with the Egyptian torus and 
frieze, bearing the superstructure which I have 
described. There is one single example, near the 
theatre, of an upper door-way opening in this 
attic, to which there is no visible access ; there 
may possibly, however, be some stairs in the 
interior ; the lower door-way is unluckily choaked, 
so that we could not ascertain. In some 
instances the pilasters are multiplied to four in 
the front, and are rounded instead of being 
angular. What is the least peculiar in the 
details of these Arabian elevations, is the deco- 
rations of the door-ways, which have in many 
instances a pediment not distinguishable from 
those of the Romans, and in others a plain hori- 



410 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

zontal architrave with the same character in the 
mouldings. It is remarkable, that in very many 
instances the whole frame and ornament of the 
door has been of separate pieces, and grafted on 
upon the solid rock. Sometimes there are 
cavities for pegs or rivets which would seem to 
have fastened these decorations in metal or in 
wood ; in others they seem to have been of 
marble or some finer sort of stone, let into grooves, 
which shew, in the hollow, their exact form. We 
were at a loss to account for the apparent 
conformity of this single member of the building 
to the rules of the Greeks and Romans ; it seems 
too strong to be accidental ; and if we suppose 
the imitation to have taken place so far back as 
the first Macedonian expedition into this country, 
it will still make the tombs, by many ages, more 
recent than it is probable that many of them 
really are ; since, from the days of Rekem, King of 
the Midianites, who passes for the founder of 
Petra, to those of Alexander the Great, there 
must have been a long suite of kings, and these 
monarchs probably had tombs. Yet if the form 
of the door-ways be judged decidely posterior to 
that period, it is so general, that few if any of 
the larger sort will remain for that early dynasty. 
If we bring them still later, and suppose them u 
Roman innovation, the difficulty is increased, 



LETTER V.] TRAVELS ROUND 411 

because we must then believe a much greater lapse 
of ages to have passed in a flourishing kingdom, 
without any considerable monuments, when archi- 
tecture was not unknown. It is possible such of 
the door frames as were not cut in the solid, may 
have been added afterwards, but this does not ap- 
pear very probable, nor does it entirely remove the 
difficulty ; especially, as in some instances in the 
higher parts of the design, broad bands seem to 
have been attached in a similar manner, which very 
probably were charged with inscriptions. 

It is surprising, amongst such a multitude of 
tombs, to find so few with any inscription to re- 
cord, for whom they were constructed ; we only 
met with two instances ; one was on the tomb, 
which had a door in the attic already mentioned, 
as being near the theatre ; it is much mutilated, 
the other, which we copied, is on the left hand 
side of the track leading towards Dibdebar, on 
a large front of pure Arabian design, with four 
attached columns ; and in this monument the 
architect, from failure, or a defective vein in the 
sand-stone, has been obliged to carry up the 
lower half in masonry, so as to meet the upper, 
which is sculptured on the face of the mountain, 
where also there were flaws, and here pieces have 
been let in to make up what was defective ; these 
last remain, but the whole substruction has disap- 



412 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

peared entirely, and the upper part is left hang- 
ing from the rock above without any base what- 
ever. This is not the only proof that is to be 
found, among the remains at Petra, that those 
who wrought on the live rock, contrary to the 
necessary practice of builders, began their work 
at the top. To return to the inscription ; it is 
upon an oblong tablet, without frame or relief, 
but is easily distinguished from the rest of the 
surface by being more delicately wrought ; there 
projects, from each of its ends, those wings in 
form of the blade of an axe, which are common 
both in the Roman and Greek tablets, and which 
would seem to have been in their origin, for the 
purpose of receiving screws or fastenings, without 
encroaching on the part inscribed ; thus [>£ . 
This original purpose seems to have been par- 
ticularly kept in view in the present instance, 
since, although the whole is in the solid, there is 
upon each side a stain of metal, which must be 
the effect of studs of bronze actually driven in, 
to give the whole tablet the appearance of a se- 
parate piece. The letters are well cut, and in a 
wonderful state of preservation, owing to the 
shelter which they receive from the projection of 
cornices, and an eastern aspect. None of our 
party had ever seen these characters before, ex- 
cepting Mr. Bankes, who upon comparing them, 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 4 1 3 

found them to be exactly similar to those which 
he had seen scratched on the rocks in the Wady 
Makootub, and about the foot of Mount Sinai* 
He subsequently found a passage in Diodorus 
Siculus, wherein he speaks of a letter written by 
the Nabathasi of Petra, to Antigonus, in the Syriac 
character ; though this, perhaps, is no proof that 
the Syriac was in use with them, since they may 
have chosen that language only, as more familiar 
to the court they were addressing. The tablet has 
five long lines, and immediately underneath, a 
single figure on a larger scale, probably the date ; 
the very same occurs at the bottom of the Hebrew 
characters on the tomb of Aaron. The interior 
of the tomb we have been describing has two 
chambers, with recesses for bodies, but no pe- 
culiarity worthy of notice; the front is crowned 
with a double flight of steps in the usual form. 
In many instances, in lieu of two flights di- 
verging from each other, they are brought to 
meet in the form of pyramids, being reduced to 
a much smaller scale, and repeated in the man- 
ner of battlements, thus 
to the number of three, 
or five entire, with the half of one at each ex- 
tremity. We have preferred collecting into one 
view, the most remarkable features of these 
tombs, before we advance further ; without con- 




414 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

fining ourselves strictly to those which are met 
with in the approach from Wady Mousa to the 
city, in order to generalize the description, and 
avoid interrupting the narrative by alluding to 
them as they present themselves, which is the 
case not only in every avenue to the city, and 
upon every precipice that surrounds it, hut even 
intermixed almost promiscuously with its public 
and domestic edifices. To return to the descrip- 
tion of the eastern approach to Petra: as we 
advanced, the natural features of the defile grew 
more and more imposing at every step, and the 
excavations and sculpture more frequent on both 
sides, till it presented at last a continued street of 
tombs, beyond which the rocks gradually ap- 
proaching each other, seemed all at once to close 
without any outlet. There is, however, one 
frightful chasm for the passage of the stream, 
which furnishes, as it did anciently, the only avenue 
to Petra on this side. It is impossible to con- 
ceive any thing more awful or sublime than such 
an approach; the width is not more than just suf- 
ficient for the passage of two horsemen abreast, 
the sides are in all parts perpendicular, varying 
from four hundred to seven hundred feet in 
height, and they often overhang to such a de- 
gree, that without their absolutely meeting, the 
sky is intercepted and completely shut out for 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 415 

one hundred yards together, and there is little 
more light than in a cavern. 

The screaming of the eagles, hawks, and 
owls, who were soaring above our heads in con- 
siderable numbers, seemingly annoyed at any one 
approaching their lonely habitation, added much 
to the singularity of this scene ( 71 ). The tama- 
risk, the wild fig, and the oleander, grow luxuri- 
antly about the road, rendering the passages often 
difficult; in some places they hang down most 
beautifully from the cliffs and crevices where they 
had taken root; the caper plant was also in luxu- 
riant growth, the continued shade furnishing 
them with moisture. 

Very near the first entrance into this romantic 
pass, a bold arch is thrown across at a great 
height, connecting the opposite sides of the cliff. 
Whether this was part of an upper road upon the 
summit of the mountain, or whether it be a por- 
tion of an aqueduct, which seems less probable, 
we had no opportunity of examining; but as the 
traveller passes under it, its appearance is most sur- 
prising, hanging thus above his head betwixt two 
rugged masses apparently inaccessible. Imme- 
diately under it are sculptured niches in the rock, 
destined probably for statues; and we suspect 
that by careful inspection inscriptions might be 
found there; but the position in which they are 



416 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

viewed is disadvantageous, and the height so 
great that it would require a good glass to dis- 
tinguish them. Farther down, upon a much 
lower level, there is an object frequently repeated 
in sculpture along the road side, which we were 
at a loss to explain: an altar is represented in 
a niche, upon which is set a mass of a lumpish 
form, sometimes square and sometimes curved in 
its outline, or rising in other instances to a shar- 
per or obtuser cone; in one instance three of 
them are coupled together in one niche. It 
might possibly be a representation of the god 
Terminus, or perhaps one of the stones which 
were objects of worship amongst the Arabs, down 
to the time of the coming of Mahommed. The 
number of these representations on the face of 
the rock is very considerable; in some instances 
there are many, almost contiguous, with Greek 
inscriptions on them, all of which are too much 
defaced to be of use in explaining their object. 
The ravine, without changing much its general 
direction, presents so many elbows and windings 
in its course, to which the track, of necessity, 
conforms, that the eye can seldom penetrate for- 
ward beyond a few paces, and is often puzzled 
to distinguish in what direction the passage will 
open, so completely does it appear obstructed. 
The exact spot was not pointed out to us, but it 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 417 

is somewhere amidst these natural horrors, that 
upwards of thirty pilgrims from Barbary, were 
murdered last year by the men of Wady Mousa 
on their return from Mecca. The wrapping 
cloak of one of them was afterwards offered to 
us for sale at Ipseyra, and one of their watches 
at Zaphoely. Salvator Rosa never conceived so 
savage and suitable a quarter for banditti. The 
brook has at this season disappeared beneath the 
soil, but the manner in which its occasional over- 
flowings have broken up the antique pavement, 
and the slippery passes which the running of 
the waters have made, by polishing the live rock 
where it had been cut away to form the road, 
sufficiently prove the necessity of providing 
another course for its waters. A trough, carried 
along near the foot of the precipice upon the 
left hand side, was destined to confine the water, 
and to convey it upon a higher than the natural 
level to the city. At a considerable distance 
down the ravine this water-course crosses over 
to the opposite side; and towards its extremity 
may be traced passing along at a great height in 
earthen pipes, bedded and secured with mortar, 
in horizontal grooves cut in the face of the rock, 
and even across the architectural fronts of some 
of the tombs, which makes it probable that it is 
posterior to them, 

E E 



418 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

We followed this sort of half subterranean 
passage for the space of nearly two miles, the 
sides increasing in height as the path continually 
descended, while the tops of the precipices re- 
tained their former level. Where they are at the 
highest, a beam of stronger light breaks in at the 
close of the dark perspective, and opens to view, 
half seen at first through the tall narrow opening, 
columns, statues, and cornices, of a light and 
finished taste, as if fresh from the chisel, without 
the tints or weather stains of age, and executed 
in a stone of a pale rose colour, which was 
warmed at the moment we came in sight of them 
with the full light of the morning sun. The dark 
green of the shrubs that grow in this perpetual 
shade, and the sombre appearance of the passage 
from whence we were about to issue, formed a 
fine contrast with the glowing colour of the 
edifice. We know not with what to compare this 
scene ; perhaps there is nothing in the world that 
resembles it. Only a portion of a very extensive 
architectural elevation is seen at first, but it 
has been so contrived that a statue with ex- 
panded wings, perhaps of victory, just fills the 
centre of the aperture in front, which being 
closed below by the sides of the rock folding- 
over each other, gives to the figure the appear- 
ance of being suspended in the air at a consi- 



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LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 419 

derable height ; the ruggedness of the cliffs below 
setting off the sculpture to the highest advantage. 
The rest of the design opened gradually at every 
pace as we advanced, till the narrow defile which 
had continued thus far, without any increase of 
breadth, spreads on both sides into an open area 
of a moderate size, whose sides are by nature in- 
accessible, and present the same awful and 
romantic features as the avenues which lead to 
it : this opening gives admission to a great body of 
light from the eastward. The position is one of the 
most beautiful that could be imagined for the front 
of a great temple, the richness and exquisite finish 
of whose decorations offers a most remarkable con- 
trast to the savage scenery which surrounds it. 

It is of a very lofty proportion, the elevation 
comprising two stories. The taste is not exactly 
to be commended, but many of the details and 
ornaments, and the size and proportion of the 
great door-way especially, to which there are 
five steps of ascent from the portico, are very 
noble. No part is built, the whole being purely 
a work of excavation, and its minutest embellish- 
ments, wherever the hand of man has not pur- 
posely effaced and obliterated them, are so per- 
fect, that it may be doubted whether any work of 
the ancients, excepting, perhaps, some on the 
banks of the Nile, have come down to our time 
so little injured by the lapse of ages. There is, 



420 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V, 

in fact, scarcely a building of forty years standing 
in England, so well preserved in the greater part 
of its architectural decorations. Of the larger 
members of the architecture nothing is deficient 
excepting a single column of the portico ; the 
statues are numerous and colossal. Those on 
each side of the portico represent, in groups, 
each of them, a centaur and a young man. This 
part of the work only is imperfect, having been 
mutilated, probably by the fanaticism of early 
Christians, or Mussulmen, directed against idolatry, 
and particularly the human form. In the upper 
tier the figures are females, two are winged, and 
two appear to have been dancing or much in 
action, with some instruments lifted above their 
heads, of which that on the left hand seems to be 
the Amazonian bipennis. Unfortunately the 
centre figure, which was doubtless the principal 
one, is too much defaced for her attributes to be 
determined ; nor is there any thing in the orna- 
ments that could enable us to discover to what 
divinity the temple has been dedicated. The 
principal chamber of the interior is large and 
remarkably lofty, but quite plain, with the ex- 
ception of the door-frames and architraves, of 
which there are three ; one at the farther end, 
and one at each side, all opening into small and 
plain cells. There is also a lateral chamber on 
each side, opening from the portico, of a rude 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 42 1 

form. The centre of the superstructure, which 
comprises the second story, is a circular elevation 
surrounded by columns, with a dome surmounted 
by an urn. This latter has not escaped, or 
failed to excite the covetousness of the natives. 
We heard of it as the deposit of a vast treasure, 
" Hasnah-el-Faraoun," (Treasure of Pharoah,) 
as far as Jerusalem; and that it has been repeat- 
edly aimed at by musket-shot, there are evident 
proofs in the marks of bullets in the stone. No 
one, however, seems to have succeeded in arriving 
at it by climbing, which would indeed be a 
difficult task; the green stains on either side 
would lead to the supposition that the handles 
had been of bronze. It is doubtful whether one 
of the perforations, by a musket-ball, does not 
shew that the urn is hollow. Above the monu- 
ment the face of the rock is left over-hanging, 
and it is to this that the excellent preservation of 
its details is to be ascribed. The half pediments, 
which terminate the wings of the building, are 
finished at the top with eagles, which, combined 
with a style of architecture differing little from the 
Roman, can leave no doubt that this great effort 
of art is posterior to the time of Trajan's con- 
quest. 

Some of the heights whose steep sides inclose 
the area in front of the temple, are rendered ac- 
cessible, though with great difficulty, by flights 



422 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

of steps cut in them; we found the ascent, in 
some instances, so steep and slippery that we 
were obliged to take off our shoos, and also to 
use our hands nearly as much as we did our feet. 
Some small pyramids hewn out of the rock 
are on the summit of these heights; and we 
discovered a much higher conical point of moun- 
tain, to whose summit there is a regular spiral 
staircase of ascent, cut with great care and 
neatness, the same point possibly on which 
we could distinguish from another quarter, a 
single pillar or obelisk; we first observed, also, 
from the heights above the temple, the great vase 
which crowns another monument to the N. W. 
The wide space which constitutes the area before 
the temple is about fifty yards in width, and 
about three times as long. It terminates to the 
south in a wild precipitous cliff, rendered accessi- 
ble by the steps above-mentioned to the N. N. W. ; 
the defile assumes, for about three hundred yards, 
the same features which characterise the eastern 
approach, with an infinite variety of tombs, both 
Arabian and Roman, on either side. This pass 
conducts to the theatre, and here the ruins of 
the city burst on the view in their full grandeur, 
shut in on the opposite side by barren, craggy 
precipices, from which numerous ravines and val- 
leys like those we had passed, branch out in all 
directions; the sides of the mountains, covered 



i 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 423 

with an endless variety of excavated tombs and 
private dwellings ( 72 ), presented altogether, the 
most singular scene we ever beheld; and we must 
despair to give the reader an idea of the singular 
effect of rocks, tinted with most extraordinary 
hues, whose summits present us with nature in 
her most savage and romantic form, whilst their 
bases are worked out in all the symmetry and 
regularity of art, with colonnades and pediments^ 
and ranges of corridors adhering to the perpen- 
dicular surface. The short notice of Petra, by 
Pliny, is as follows : " the Nabatsei inhabit a city 
called Petra, in a hollow somewhat less than two 
miles in circumference, surrounded by inaccessi- 
ble mountains, with a stream running through it. 
It is distant from the town of Gaza, on the coast, 
six hundred miles; and from the Persian gulf 
one hundred and twenty-two." 6th book, 28 c. 
Strabo says " the capital of the Nabatasi is called 
Petra; it lies in a spot which is in itself level and 
plain, but fortified all round with a barrier of 
rocks and precipices; within, furnished with 
springs of excellent quality for the supply of 
water and the irrigation of gardens ; without the 
circuit, the country is in a great measure desert, 
and especially towards Judaga. Jericho is at the 
distance of three or four days." He adds, that 
one of the royal lineage always resided at 



424 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

Petra, and had a sort of counsellor attached to 
him who was entitled his brother; he premises 
their laws and customs. 

It will be seen that these two ancient geogra- 
phers, in characterising the position of the city, not 
only agree with one another, but will be found 
sufficiently conformable to the reality, though, 
strictly speaking, the situation can neither be 
called a valley with Pliny, nor a plain with 
Strabo; yet it is certainly both low in position, 
and level in surface, when compared with the 
crags and precipices that surround it. It is an 
area in the bosom of a mountain, swelling into 
mounds and intersected with gullies; but the 
whole ground is of such a nature as may be con- 
veniently built upon, and has neither ascent nor 
descent inconveniently steep. Within the actual 
circuit of the city there are two mounds, which 
seem to have been entirely covered with build- 
ings, being still strewed over with a prodigious 
quantity of loose stones, tiles, and fragments of 
ancient ware, of a very light and delicate fabric. 
The bed of the river, taking its course to the 
N. W., flows between these two spots ; the water 
has now sunk beneath the surface, and perhaps 
creeps through the rubbish which ages have accu- 
mulated in its bed; great part of it seems to 
have been arched over in the same manner as the 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 425 

stream at Philadelphia. In the low ground, on 
the left bank of the stream, seem to have been 
some of the principal edifices; the first, to the 
N. W. from the theatre, was an archway of a very 
florid architecture with pilasters having pannels 
enriched with foliage, in the manner of Palmyra : 
the whole is much ruined. The arch was the in- 
troduction to a great pile of building, standing 
nearly at right angles to it. This building had 
a door on one side; on the three others, it was 
decorated with a frieze of triglyphs, and large 
flowers in the metopes. Beams of wood are let 
in at intervals between the courses of the ma- 
sonry, and continue to this day, a strong proof 
of the dryness of the climate. The front had a 
portico of four columns; this part is much fallen 
into ruins. The interior of the edifice was di 
vided into three parallel chambers, and there 
seem to have been several stories. This interior 
economy made us suspect that it was not a 
temple, but rather a palace or some private 
edifice. Whatever may have been its nature, 
it seems to have been destined to the same 
purpose as the ruined building at " Bait-el- 
Carm," which we afterwards saw from our camp 
above Dibdebar, and which is the only con- 
siderable work of masonry existing at Petra. 
Upon the summit of the other mound there is a 



426 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

mass of ruins of some solidity, but no very defi- 
nite shape. The Nubian geographer, climate 
three, says that the houses of Petra were exca- 
vated in the rock ; now, that this was not univer- 
sally true, is evident from the great quantity of 
stones employed in the lesser kind of edifices 
which are scattered over the whole site ; but it is 
also true, that there are grottos in great numbers, 
which were certainly not sepulchral, especially 
near the palace ; there is one in particular which 
presents a front of four windows, with a large 
and lofty door-way in the centre. In the interior, 
one chamber of about sixty feet in length, and of 
a breadth proportioned, occupies three of the 
windows and the door ; at the lower end, the 
fourth window seems allotted to a very small 
sleeping chamber, which is not brought down to 
the level of the floor of the great apartment, but 
has a chamber below it of the same size, receiv- 
ing no light but from the entrance. This, which 
seems the best of all the excavated residences, 
has no ornament whatever on the exterior ; and 
the same applies to all the other excavations of 
this nature. The access to this house is by a 
shelf gained out of the side of the mountain ( 73 ) ; 
other inferior habitations open upon it, and more 
particularly an oven, and some cisterns. These 
antique dwellings are close to an angle of the 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 427 

mountain, where the bed of the stream, after hav- 
ing traversed the city, passes again into a narrow 
defile, along whose steep sides a sort of excavated 
suburb is continued, of very small and mean 
chambers, set one above another, without much 
regularity, like so many pigeon-holes in the rock, 
with flights of steps or narrow inclined planes 
leading up to them. The main wall and ceiling 
only of some were in the solid; the fronts and 
partitions being built of very indifferent ma- 
sonry with cement. 

Following this defile farther down, the river 
re-appears, flowing with considerable rapidity ; 
though the water is plentiful, it is with difficulty 
that its course can be followed, from the luxu- 
riance of the shrubs that surround it, and 
obstruct every track. Besides the oleander, which 
is common to all the water-courses in this 
country, one may recognise among the plants 
which choak this valley, some which are probably 
the descendants of those that adorned the gardens, 
and supplied the market of the capital of Arabia ; 
the carob, fig, mulberry, vine, and pomegranate 
line the river-side; a very beautiful species of 
aloe also grows in this valley, bearing a flower of 
an orange hue, shaded to scarlet ; in some instances 
it had upwards of one hundred blossoms in a 
bunch. 



428 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER Y. 

Amongst the niches for votive offerings in the 
mountain's side, some of which are cut to the 
height of thirty feet, are pyramids and obelisks ; 
and in one instance there is an altar between 
two palm trees. The position of the theatre has 
been mentioned ; it is the first object which 
presents itself to the traveller on entering Petra 
from the eastward. It is entirely hewn out of 
the live rock; the diameter of the podium is one 
hundred and twenty feet, the number of seats 
thirty-three, and of the cunii three. There was 
no break, and consequently no vomitories. The 
scene, unfortunately, was built, and not excavated ; 
the whole is fallen, and the bases of four co- 
lumns only remain on its interior face. The 
theatre is surrounded by sepulchres; every 
avenue leading to it is full of them, and one may 
safely say, that a hundred of the largest dimensi- 
ons are visible from it. Indeed, throughout almost 
every quarter of this metropolis, the depositories 
of the dead, must have presented themselves con- 
stantly to the eyes of the inhabitants, and have 
almost out-numbered the habitations of the 
living ; there is a long line of them not far from 
the theatre, at such an angle as not to be com- 
prehended in the view from it, but which must 
have formed a principal object for the city 
itself. 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 4<29 

The largest of the sepulchres had originally 
three stories, of which the lowest presented four 
portals, with large columns set between them ; 
and the second and third, a row of eighteen Ionic 
columns each, attached to the facade ; the live 
rock being insufficient for the total elevation, a 
part of the story was grafted on in masonry, and 
is for the most part fallen away. The four 
portals of the basement open into as many cham- 
bers, very dissimilar, both in distribution and 
arrangements, but all sepulchral, and without any 
communication between them. In one were 
three recesses which seem to have been orna- 
mented with marble, or some other extraneous 
material. Almost contiguous to this extensive 
front, is another somewhat smaller but equally 
rich, whose design has a great analogy, especially 
in the circumstance of the half pediment, and the 
circular lantern in the centre, to the beautiful 
temple of the eastern approach. Though a 
general symmetry pervades this piece of architec- 
ture, yet there are irregularities observable in its 
doors and windows, which may be explained by 
the circumstance of their opening into apartments 
no way connected with each other, and intended 
apparently for different families. A little further 
to the S. E. an area is gained upon the slope of 
the mountain, by excavating it, so as to form 



43Q TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

three sides of a square ; two of these have been 
formed into Doric porticos ; the third, which is 
the loftiest, as being that which abuts against the 
body of the mountain, is occupied by a lofty 
front, decorated with four engaged columns of 
the same order, but without triglyphs. A pedi- 
ment surmounts the frieze, supporting an urn, in 
all respects similar to that on the temple of the 
eastern approach. A door-way, with a window 
over it, fills the centre, and there are three windows 
in the attic, the centre one of which exhibits two 
half-length figures in basso-relievo. In the ap- 
proach to this tomb there were arched substruc- 
tions of great extent, now fallen into ruins. It is 
surprising to reflect that monuments of so vast a 
scale should be executed subsequent to the 
Roman conquest, since after that period we can 
look upon them as no more than the tombs of 
private individuals. Whence should come so 
much wealth, and such a taste for magnificence 
after the country had lost its independence, it is 
difficult to conceive ; it is possible, however, that a 
trade by the Red Sea with India, or even the 
caravan trade with the spice country, may have 
imported such riches into the place, as to give the 
inhabitants the same fondness for ostentation and 
ornament, observable at Palmyra, which owed its 
wealth to the same source. Yet to consider a 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 431 

mausoleum of upwards of seventy or eighty feet 
high, with lateral porticos, and flights of terraces 
upon arched work leading up to it, as the effect 
of vanity of some obscure individual in a remote 
corner of the Roman Empire, has something in it 
surprising and almost unaccountable. The in- 
terior was disposed of in one large and lofty 
chamber, having six recesses, with grooves in them 
at the further end. 

On the establishment of Christianity these six 
recesses have been converted into three, for the 
reception of the altars, and the whole apartment 
has been made to serve as a church ; the 
fastenings for the tapestry and pictures are still 
visible in all the walls, and near an angle is an 
inscription in red paint, recording the date of 
consecration. These were the only vestiges of 
a Christian establishment that we were enabled 
to discover throughout the remains of Petra, 
though it was a metropolitan see. 

Diodorus Siculus has a long account of the ex- 
pedition sent by Antigonus against the Nabatsei ; 
he mentions that their riches were very great in 
gold and spices, and that such of them as were 
feeble and infirm were left Imtwfa nsT^aj, which he 
calls afterwards a place of prodigious natural 
strength, but without any walls ; and distant 
two days' journey from any inhabited place. 
In the second expedition, it is said there was but 



432 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

one way of access to it, which was artificial. 
The loftiness of the post is afterwards mentioned. 
It is difficult to apply this description to Wady 
Mousa. Upon some of the high points of rock 
that rise about the skirts of the city, and tower 
above them, the remains of walled forts are 
visible from below ; and as it is probable there was 
an acropolis, it must be looked for in some of 
these. 

Two days were spent upon these ruins, from 
day-break until dusk, and yet it will be seen by 
what has been said, that this time was very 
insufficient to complete an examination of them. 
It was impossible to remain any longer, for 
although Abou Raschid attended personally with 
us the whole time, yet having forced us to decline 
visiting Abou Zettum in so abrupt a manner, 
and having but few attendants, he was never at 
his ease, and constantly urged us to depart. 
On the first afternoon, we undertook the ascent 
to the little edifice, which is visible from all 
the country round, upon the very highest and 
most rugged pinnacle of this range of moun- 
tain, and is called " the Tomb of Aaron." 
The Tomb of Moses has been so grossly mis- 
placed by the Mussulmen, who shew it half a 
day's journey beyond Jordan to the westward, 
that we might look with some suspicion to one 
assigned to his brother, were it not that Josephus 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 433 

expressly says of the place of his decease, that it 
was near Petra ( 74 ). Compare also IWosera with 
Mousa, and it seems that the monument and the 
ruins mutually authenticate each other ; we had no 
doubt, therefore, that the height which we were 
going to ascend, is the Mount Hor of Scripture. 
The base of the highest pinnacle of the mountain 
is a little removed from the skirts of the city to 
the westward; we rode to its foot over a rugged 
and broken track, passing in the way many sepul- 
chres, similar to those which have been described. 
A singular monument presents itself upon the 
left hand; an obtuse cone, produced by the 
coils of a spiral, is represented as standing on 
a vast square pedestal or altar, the whole being 
obtained out of one of the peaked summits of the 
rock. Not far from thence, close to the way side, 
is the same representation in relievo, within a niche 
which we have remarked upon in the eastern ap- 
proach, the form of the recess which surrounds 
the altar rising into the figure of a sugar-loaf. 
No where is the extraordinary colouring of these 
mountains more striking than in the road to the 
Tomb of Aaron which we followed, where the rock 
sometimes presented a deep, sometime a paler blue, 
and sometimes was occasionally streaked with red, 
or shaded off to lilac or purple, sometimes a salmon- 
colour was veined in waved lines and circles, with 

F F 



434 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

crimson and even scarlet, so as to resemble 
exactly the colour of raw meat ; in other places 
there are livid stripes of yellow or bright orange, 
and in some parts all the different colours were 
ranged side by side in parallel strata ; there are 
portions also with paler tints, and some quite 
white, but these last seem to be soft, and not 
good for preserving the sculpture. It is this 
wonderful variety of colours observable through- 
out the whole range of mountains, that gives to 
Petra one of its most characteristic beauties; 
the facades of the tombs, tastefully as they are 
sculptured, owe much of their imposing ap- 
pearance to this infinite diversity of hues in the 
stone. 

We engaged an Arab shepherd as our guide, 
and leaving Abou Raschid with our servants and 
horses, where the steepness of the ascent com- 
mences, we began to mount the track, which is 
extremely steep and toilsome, and affords but an 
indifferent footing. In most parts the pilgrim 
must pick his way as he can, and frequently on 
his hands and knees. Where by nature it would 
have been impassable, there are flights of rude 
steps, or inclined planes, constructed of stones 
laid together, and here and there are niches to 
receive the foot-steps cut in the live rock ; the 
impression of pilgrims' feet are scratched in the 



4 

LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 435 

rock in many places, but without inscriptions. 
Much juniper grows on the mountain, almost to 
the very summit, and many flowering plants 
which we had not observed elsewhere ; some of 
these are very beautiful ; most of them are thorny. 
On the top there is an overhanging shelf in the 
rock, which forms a sort of cavern ; here we found 
a skin of extremely bad water, suspended for 
drinking, and a pallet of straw, with the pitcher, 
arid the other poor utensils of the sheikh who re- 
sides here. He is a decrepit old man, who has 
lived here during the space of forty years, and 
occasionally endured the fatigue of descending 
and reascending the mountain. The tomb itself 
is enclosed in a small building, differing not at 
all in external form and appearance, from those 
of M alio mme dan saints, common throughout every 
province of Turkey. It has probably been re- 
built at no remote period ; some small columns 
are bedded in the walls, and some fragments of 
granite, and slabs of white marble are lying about. 
The door is near the S. W. angle, within which 
a constructed tomb, with a pall thrown over it, 
presents itself immediately upon entering ; it is 
patched together out of fragments of stone and 
marble that have made part of other fabrics. 
Upon one of these are several short lines in the 



436 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

Hebrew character, cut in a slovenly manner; we 
had them interpreted at Acre, and they proved to 
be merely the names of a Jew and his family who 
had scratched this record ; it is not probable that 
any professed Jew has visited the spot for ages 
past, perhaps not since the period of the Mahom- 
medan conquest ; it may lay claim, therefore, 
to some antiquity, and in any case is a curious 
appendage to the testimony of Josephus on this 
subject. There are rags and shreds of yarn, 
with glass beads and paras, left as votive offerings 
by the Arabs ( 75 ). Not far from the N. W. angle 
is a passage, descending by steps to a vault or 
grotto beneath, for we were uncertain which of 
the two to call it, being covered with so thick a 
coat of whitewash, that it is difficult to distinguish 
whether it is built or hollowed out. It appeared, 
in great part at least, a grotto ; the roof is co- 
vered, but the whole is rude, ill-fashioned, and 
quite dark; the sheikh, who was not informed 
that we were Christians, a circumstance which 
our guide was not aware of, furnished us with a 
lamp of butter. Towards the farther end of this 
dark vault lie the two corresponding leaves of an 
iron grating, which formerly prevented all nearer 
approach to the tomb of the prophet ; they have, 
however, been thrown down, and we advanced so 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 437 

as to touch it ; it was covered by a ragged pall. 
We were obliged to descend bare-footed ( 76 ), and 
were not without some apprehension of treading 
on scorpions or other reptiles in such a place. 

The view from the summit of the edifice is ex- 
tremely extensive in every direction, and the eye 
rests upon few objects, which it can clearly dis- 
tinguish and give a name to, though an excellent 
idea is obtained of the general face and features 
of the country. The chain of Idumean moun- 
tains, which form the western shore of the Dead 
Sea, seem to run on to the southward, though 
losing considerably in their height; they appear 
in this point of view barren and desolate. Below 
them is spread out a white sandy plain, seamed 
with the beds of occasional torrents, and present- 
ing much the same features as the most desert 
parts of the Ghor. Where this desert expanse 
approaches the foot of Mount Hor, there arise 
out of it, like islands, several lower peaks and 
ridges of a purple colour, probably composed of 
the same kind of sand-stone as that of Mount 
Hor itself, which, variegated as it is in its hues, 
presents in the distance one uniform mass of dark 
purple. Towards the Egyptian side there is an 
expanse of country without features or limit, and 
lost in the distance. The lofty district which we 
had quitted in our descent to Wady Mousa, shuts 



438 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

up the prospect on the S. E. side ; but there is no 
part of the landscape which the eye wanders over 
with more curiosity and delight than the crags 
of Mount Hor itself, which stand up on every 
side in the most rugged and fantastic forms; 
sometimes strangely piled one on the other, and 
sometimes as strangely yawning in clefts of 
a frightful depth. In the midst of this chaos 
there rises into sight one finished work, distin- 
guished by profuseness of ornament, and richness 
of detail. It is the same which has been de- 
scribed as visible from other elevated points, but 
which we were never able to arrive at ; it bears 
N. E. half N. from this spot, but the number and 
intricacy of the vallies and ravines, which we sup- 
posed might have led us to it, baffled all our 
attempts. No guide was to be found. With the 
assistance of the glass we made out the facade to be 
larger to all appearance than that of the temple 
at the eastern approach, and nowise inferior to it 
in richness and beauty. It is hewn out of the rock, 
and seemed to be composed of two tiers of co- 
lumns, of which the upper range is Ionic ; the 
centre of the monument is crowned with a vase 
of a gigantic proportion ; the whole appeared 
to be in a high state of preservation; it may per- 
haps be an ornament to the northern approach 
to the city, similarly situated to that on the 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 439 

eastern side from Mount Hor. Petra is inter- 
cepted and concealed by the prominences of the 
mountains. An artist who would study rock 
scenery in all its wildest and most extravagant 
forms, and in colours, which, to one who has not 
seen them, would scarcely appear to be in nature, 
would find himself rewarded should he resort to 
Mount Hor for that sole purpose. 

We had employed just one hour in the ascent, and 
found that our return to the place where we had left 
our horses occupied the same time ; as the day was 
closing we were reconducted by Abou Raschid near 
to the palace, and from thence proceeding in a N.E. 
direction, quitted the ruins. On leaving Petra the 
track rises considerably, and is slippery and danger- 
ous ; our attention was particularly excited on this 
side, by remarking with how much care the scanty 
soil had been banked up into terraces, and disposed 
into fields and gardens ; every nook that could 
furnish footing for a single plant is turned to 
account, proving that Strabo was not mistaken 
in speaking of the horticultural advantages of 
this city; the inhabitants seem to have made the 
most of it. At present, the barren state of the 
country, together with the desolate condition of 
the city, without a single human being living 
near it, seem strongly to verify the judgment 
denounced against it ( 77 ). It appeared to have 



440 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

been our chief's intention to have carried us for 
the night to some camp at a greater distance; 
however, it so happened that we had scarcely 
quitted the district of the tombs, when we passed 
near a small camp, consisting of a few tents only. 
Two men rushing out from them with impetuosity 
seized our bridles, and carried us by main force to 
lodge with them ; before we could dismount they 
had contrived to loose the corn bags from behind 
our saddles, and were fighting with one another, 
disputing who should fill them. The contest was 
so much in earnest that the most elderly of the 
persons engaged was thrown down, and the 
corn bags which he had secured, snatched from 
him by force. It will hardly be credited that the 
object of so much contention was the furnishing 
necessaries from their own stock, gratis, to persons 
whom they had never seen before. A sheep was 
slain, and our supper was as usual : thus finished 
our first day's visit to the ruins of Petra. 

Little more than a general survey had been 
taken, and that imperfectly. When we proposed 
returning, the principal objections that were 
started, were the difficulty of finding provisions 
for ourselves, and provender for our horses ; this 
was remedied by the purchase of a sheep on our 
part, together with whatever else was necessary 
for the ensuing day; it will appear strange to 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 441 

those who have had no experience in Arabian 
manners, that the same people who had fought 
with one another a few hours before, for the pri- 
vilege of providing what we wanted at their 
own expense, from the moment that payment 
was talked of, and money shewn to them, became 
greedy and imposing to the highest degree, and 
resorted to every method of extortion that they 
could devise ; this is, however, entirely in the 
Arab character ; generous asd prone to hospitality 
at first, and as long as there is no talk or 
appearance of a recompence, but from the 
moment it is discovered that any thing can be 
got, they not only lose all liberality, but even 
common honesty, and a scene of fraud, double- 
dealing, and extortion begins; so that, in fact, a 
poor man may pass better, and upon a more 
friendly footing than a rich one. The result of 
the second day's operations has been thrown into 
the preceding description of Petra. We re- 
mained there till night, and took our last farewell 
with reluctance, leaving unexplored, the great 
temple which we had seen from Mount Hor; the 
arch thrown over the chasm of the eastern en- 
trance; the obelisk on one of the commanding 
heights; many of the ravines and valleys in the 
entrances of which were tombs, and which pro- 
mised much if well examined; the insulated and 



442 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

conical mount with steps; the height which we 
supposed to have been the acropolis, and in 
short, enough to have employed us four days 
more at least, but nothing could obtain a further 
extension of the time allotted. We returned to 
the same camp where we had passed the night 
before. 

There were great apprehensions of robbers 
who would carry off our horses in the dark. It 
was stated they would probably be the Annasee 
Arabs, who are continually lurking about in the 
neighbourhood ; and it was reported in the morn- 
hig that two fellows had been seen, who finding 
that persons were on the watch, made no attempt 
to do any mischief. 

May Q6. At day break we quitted the camp and 
proceeded towards Shobek ; the weather through- 
out the day was excessively cold. An European 
would find it difficult to believe, that on 
the 26th of May, in a latitude more southern 
than the Delta of Egypt, we were suffering 
great inconvenience from cold, with the wind 
from the westward. The very elevated situation 
we were on was in some measure the cause of 
this, but does not seem quite to account for it; 
the gusts were so violent, and the cold so bitter, 
that our people once alighted in the middle of 
the way, for the purpose of kindling a fire. 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 443 

Arriving at Abou Raschid's camp,, no impatience 
was expressed at our delay; here we were joined 
by Sheikh Yousouf and Sahlem; and taking 
leave of Abou Raschid, who sent his mace-bearer 
with his iron mace to ensure for us the same re- 
ception as if he was himself of our company, 
( 7S ), we proceeded to Shobek. We gave our 
intrepid friend four hundred piastres, and Mr. 
Legh presented him with a brass blunderbuss, 
having a spring bayonet, with which he was much 
pleased; he kissed us all at parting. 

May 27. In the morning we quitted Shobek. 
On our way, this day, we passed a swarm of locusts 
that were resting themselves in a gully; they 
were in sufficient numbers to alter apparently the 
colour of the rock on which they had alighted, 
and to make a sort of cracking noise while eating, 
which we heard before we reached them (Volney 
compares it to the foraging of an army). Our 
conductors told us they were on their way to 
Gaza, and that they pass almost annually. In 
the evening we arrived at Ipseyra, sometimes 
called Bsaida; it is a miserable village, and the 
people a fanatical and surly set. We here met 
the man who had conducted Sheikh Ibrahim to 
Wady Mousa, as old Yousouf would not attend him 
farther than this place; the guide seemed to say 
that Buckhardt made a very hasty survey of the ruins. 



444 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

May 28. We went to the tents of Sheikh 
Sahlem, passing on our way the village of Tafyle, 
and several others in the district of Djebal; they 
are generally in picturesque situations. 

May 29- In the morning we took our leave 
of Sheikh Sahlem. On our way we passed 
several shepherd's boys, who were playing on 
double pipes similar to some of those represented 
in the tombs of Egypt. We descended into the 
Wady El Ahsa, and bathed in the hot spring, which 
the Arabs call the bath of Solomon the son of 
David. Crossing the deep ravine and river El Ahsa, 
we entered into the district of Kerek. El Ahsa is 
probably the Zared of Scripture, the boundary of 
the Edomites and Moabites. On our ascent from 
the valley of the El Ahsa, which occupied two hours, 
we killed, by the road side, a black scorpion, at 
least four inches long. About noon we reached 
a camp belonging to the father of old Yousouf s 
bride ; he is the sheikh of a village called Khanzyre, 
less than a mile from the camp. The next day 
we proceeded to Kerek. As we entered You- 
souf s quarters, the throats of three kids ranged 
in a line were cut before us, to celebrate our 
return. The people were employed bringing in 
the harvest. W e found the sheikh's house very 
full of Annasee Arabs, who were come with their 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 445 

camels from the eastward to procure corn. They 
had brought a mare as a present to old Yousouf 
who had not of late been on good terms with 
their tribe ; he gave,, in his turn, six camel loads of 
wheat and six of barley, a sword of value, and a 
benish for the chief. The wife of the sheikh's 
brother was dying of a fever, in a little room 
which opened into the court, and was so thronged 
that it was difficult to obtain a sight of the scene : 
she was lying on the floor speechless, and round 
her were women and girls, some squatting, and 
others leaning over her, so thick together that 
they could not move without treading on one 
another, or on the sick person, who was hardly 
visible from the numbers that surrounded her ; 
the whole multitude were uttering the most 
piercing and piteous cries, nearly to the same tune 
as at a funeral. Old Yousouf and another male 
of the family were seated in silence at the lower 
end of the room towards the door. At our par- 
ticular request, the troop of mourners were ex- 
pelled, and the woman left quiet ; knowing of no 
other remedy, and hearing that she was weak 
from fasting, Mahommed, the soldier, prescribed 
chicken broth, upon taking which, she recovered 
surprisingly. 

To the S. W. of the castle of Kerek, about a 
mile distant, is a source the name of which is a 



446 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

memorial of the occupation of this country by 
the crusaders ; it is called Ain-el-Frangee, or 
the Franks' Fountain. 

June 1. In the forenoon we set out on a 
journey for the purpose of examining the 
southern extremity of the Dead Sea, under the 
guidance of an old man of the family of Yousouf 
Magella, who made us pay him thirty piastres, 
under the pretence that an escort of three was 
necessary, at ten piastres each. We left the town 
by a more easy descent than that by which we 
first arrived ; at the bottom we fell in with a 
small caravan of horses and mules, who were 
setting out for Hebron and Jerusalem. We 
pursued the same road by which we had arrived 
at Kerek from Hebron. A spot was pointed 
out to us by Soliman as the scene, in his younger 
days, of the slaughter of thirty men of Kerek. 
We could not learn the story very satisfactorily, 
but it seemed to be the result of a civil war 
amongst them; it was not far from where we had 
ourselves been accosted by the armed men, whom 
we had supposed robbers, and certainly a fitter 
place for an attack of thieves could not easily be 
found. We had previously passed many camps ; 
in one of these we were desired to observe a very 
large herd of cattle collected, which we were in- 
formed was a spoil just brought in from the Haou- 



LETTER V.] 



THE DEAD SEA. 



447 



ran near Djebal-el-Druze, where they had been 
robbed by some men in Ismayel's employ. As 
soon as we came to the pass, which commands 
an extensive prospect of the Dead Sea, we could 
observe the effect of the evaporation arising from 
it, in broad transparent columns of vapour, not 
unlike water-spouts in appearance, but very much 
larger. We did not deviate at all from our old 
route as far as the brook Dara ; here the little 
Hebron caravan halted to eat, and repose for a 
few hours. They implored us in the most earnest 
manner, as we valued their safety, not to mention 
in the huts of the Ghorney's below, that we had 
seen them, as it would infallibly lead to their 
being assaulted and robbed ; adding, that so small 
a company could seldom pass that way with 
safety. From this point we began to take a new 
course, making a pretty direct descent towards 
the plain of the Ghor. An open grove of the 
acassia and doom tree was thinly sprinkled on 
the first portion of our way ; of these a great 
number were apparently either dead or dying, 
from what cause we did not learn, possibly their 
foliage had been stripped by locusts. All this 
tract might be, and probably has been irrigated, 
for it would be easy to dam up the brook, and 
conduct it in almost every direction. The form 
of fields, and even the marks of furrows are to be 



448 



TRAVELS ROUND 



[LETTER V. 



seen ; and some ruins like those of cottages, or of 
a small hamlet. Lower down there is, very clearly, 
an ancient site ; stones that have been used in 
building, though for the most part unhewn, are 
strewed over a great surface of uneven ground, 
and mixed both with bricks and pottery. This 
appearance continues without interruption, dur- 
ing the space of at least half a mile, quite down 
to the plain, so that it would seem to have been 
a place of considerable extent. We noticed one 
column, and we found a pretty specimen of an- 
tique, variegated glass ; it may possibly be the 
site of the ancient Zoar. Near these remains the 
Dara opens from its glen into the plain to the 
northward, by a nook, where there is a wall of 
rude brick, with an arched door-way, which, as it 
seemed not to promise much, we did not examine. 
The brook so far fertilizes this part of the plain, 
that it is scattered over with thickets of the 
acassia and doom plant ; we observed another 
shrub also, the branches of which have an in- 
clination downwards, and are of a dull green 
with little or no foliage ; it bears a fruit about the 
size of an almond in its green husk, and not very 
dissimilar in colour, but having several seams or 
ribs like those on the fruit of the green pippin. 
When it ripens, the skin retains its roughness 
without, but becomes soft and juicy like a green 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 449 

gage, and has a sort of sweetness mixed with a 
strong bitter ; by culture it might perhaps be 
improved to a pleasant fruit ; some said it was 
eatable, but others asserted that it was poison- 
ous, and that children were frequently disordered, 
or even died after eating it ; there is a stone within 
it, and the smell is sickly and disagreeable. The 
hare and the partridge of the desert abound 
throughout this thicket, portions of which are 
cleared and cultivated. In the very heart of it, 
not visible in any direction beyond a few yards, 
unless by the smoke issuing from it, is the village 
of the Ghorney's, who are by profession Mahom- 
medans, but are looked on by the faithful as little 
better than absolute infidels, as they seldom, if 
ever, exercise the forms of their religion. They 
hire themselves out as herdsmen and shepherds, 
and are notorious robbers. Their abode has 
more the appearance of a village in India or the 
South Seas, than of any we have seen in the 
east. The weather being now excessively hot, 
the people were nearly naked ; the children quite 
so: we were well received and few questions 
asked of us, but our guide shewed great mistrust 
of our hosts, laying all our goods together close 
to our heads, where we lay down to sleep. 

June 2. On the first dawn we left our guide, 
who wished to purchase tobacco to take to Kerek, 

G G 



450 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

and turning rather to the eastward of north, 
made our way through the thicket towards the 
sea beach. We were here surprised to see, for 
the first time, the oskar plant grown to the 
stature of a tree, its trunk measuring, in many 
instances, two feet or more in circumference, and 
the boughs at least fifteen feet in height, a size 
which far exceeded any we saw in Nubia; the fruit 
also was larger and in greater quantity. There 
is very little doubt of this being the fruit of the 
Dead Sea so often noticed by the ancients as 
appearing juicy and delicious to the eye, while 
within it is hollow, or filled with something grat- 
ing and disagreeable in the mouth. The natives 
make use of the filaments, which are enclosed in 
the fruit, and which somewhat resemble the down 
of a thistle, as a stuffing for their cushions; and 
they likewise twist them, like thin rope, into 
matches for their guns, which they assured us 
required no application of sulphur to render them 
combustible. Nearer the sea, the vegetation con- 
sists principally of the tamarisk and cane, so high 
and so thickly set, as to render many parts 
wholly impassable. The rotten and marshy 
ground, formed probably by the stagnation of 
deposited water, during the winter season especi- 
ally, renders the passage very difficult. The 
foliage has a salt dew hanging upon it, which 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 45 1 

gives to the hand the same greasy sensation and 
appearance that is acquired by dipping it in the 
sea itself. We saw frequent tracks of the wild 
boar. 

A narrow, pebbly beach, separates the jungle 
from the sea; it is very hard and firm to the 
tread, and continues the same along the water's 
edge, which here turns westward, and forms a 
bay; as the land lies lower here than in other 
place, the water encroaches more or less on the 
shore according to the season; the highest point 
which it ever reaches being marked by an exten- 
sive deposit of timber of all sizes. It dries off 
into shallows and small pools, which in the end 
deposit a salt as fine and as well bleached, in some 
instances, as that in regular salt pans. The western 
horn of this bay is formed by a sharp promontory, 
projecting forward into the sea, in a direction 
nearly from south to north; that is to say, such 
is the relative bearing of the extremities, for 
between them there is a considerable concavity 
in the line of shore where the salt-water stag- 
nates and evaporates. We found several persons 
peeling off a solid surface of salt, several inches 
in thickness ; they were collecting it and loading 
it on asses. Towards the same part the ground 
is treacherous and deep, and only glazed over 
with a thin crust, not unlike the sediment of mud 



452 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

which the Nile in some parts leaves on its shores. 
The promontory is not entirely of high land, 
this being confined to a steep, white ridge run- 
ning like a spine down the centre; this ridge 
presents steep, sloping sides, seamed and furrowed 
into deep hollows by the rains, and terminating 
at the summit in sharp, triangular points, standing 
up like rows of tents ranged one above another; 
the whole is of a substance apparently partaking 
of the mixture of soft and broken chalk and 
slate, and is wholly unproductive of vegetation. 
The height of the eminence varies from ten to 
about thirty feet, becoming gradually lower 
towards its northern extremity. At its foot, all 
round, is a considerable margin of sand, which 
varies in length and breath according to the sea- 
son, being much narrower in summer than it is 
in winter, when we have reason to suppose, that 
in rough weather, at least, the waves almost wash 
the base of the cliff. At the northernmost point 
of the cape some rotten branches are standing 
up, so encrusted with salt deposited upon them 
by the spray, or the evaporation, that they have 
the appearance of straight branches of fine white 
coral. The total length of this promontory or 
horn of the bay may be about four miles, comput- 
ed from the observation, that we employed an hour 
and twelve minutes in riding along it at a walk- 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 453 

ing pace. Following the line of coast round the an- 
gle, the same cliff presents an opposite face of simi- 
lar appearance and equal height, running two miles 
or forty minutes in a S. W. by S. direction. Here 
we first collected lumps of nitre and fine sulphur, 
from the size of a nutmeg up to that of a small 
hen's egg ; it was evident from their situation that 
they must have been brought down by the rain, and 
that their great deposit must be sought for in the 
cliff ( 79 ). It is probable that persons come to col- 
lect these substances ; at least it was the only mode 
that occurred to us of accounting for the prints 
of human footsteps which we saw here, and those 
of asses somewhat farther on; as this place can 
not fall into any ordinary line of communication. 
The direction of the cliff is between S. W. and 
S.; we quitted its foot, where the sand is in 
some places deep and distressing to the horse, 
and followed the edge of the beach, which di- 
verges from the cliff to the S. W.; as the 
water subsides, which being always shallow to- 
wards the strait, retires rapidly in this part, a very 
considerable level is left, which is encrusted with 
a salt that is but half dried and consolidated, 
appearing like ice, in the commencement of a 
thaw. All this space is soft, and gives way 
nearly as deep as the ancle, when it is trod on. 
We reached the narrowest part of the channel of 



4,54 TRAVELS ROUND [lETTTR V. 

communication between the sea and the back- 
water (which we have called the strait) in just 
two hours, from the foot of the cliff, our direction 
having been about S. W. The strait is formed 
by a low promontory projecting from the oppo- 
site or western shore; and, fortunately, just as 
we arrived at the narrowest part, where the 
ford is indicated by boughs of trees, we observed 
the small caravan from Kerek landed on the 
opposite side ; and as we could discern the 
species of animal, as well as the people on 
their backs, we were all agreed in estimating 
the distance about a mile. As there were asses of 
the party, the depth cannot be great. We searched 
for the shells mentioned by Seetzen, as proving 
that there are living creatures in the lake, 
but found none excepting snail shells, and a 
small spiral species, invariably without any fish, 
or the appearance of having had any for a long 
time. Dead locusts were found in very great 
numbers ; they had not become putrid, nor had 
they any smell, as when cast up by any other sea 
(vide Volney) ; they were completely penetrated 
and incrusted with salt, and had lost their co- 
lour. The sight of such a multitude of carcasses 
of creatures who had perished in passing over 
these waters, might seem to lend some counte- 
nance to the tale of the ancients, es that no living 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 455 

thing could attempt the passage over it with im- 
punity;" were it not a spectacle sufficiently com- 
mon upon other shores, as Sicily, and about el- 
Arish; and we had another, still better proof to 
the contrary, first, in a pair of Egyptian geese, 
and afterwards in a flight of pigeons which 
passed over the sea. Leaving the narrowest 
part of the strait, we followed it to its southern 
extremity, where it opens into the back-water, and 
also the shore of the back-water itself to some 
distance. The high water mark was at this 
season a mile distant from the water's edge. We 
were told that this back-water is never dry, and 
that the ford is not at any season impassable. 

It is remarkable how few living things, as birds, 
or insects, or reptiles, are to be seen on this lake; 
the want of vegetable matter and fresh water is 
probably the reason. Having returned from the 
edge of the back-water, we ascended the cliff, 
which is steep but practicable, and then we 
gained a great table-land on its top, where we 
fell in with the track of those who had passed 
from Kerek to the ford. In two hours we reached 
the banks of the Dara, where we found our 
guide. In the evening, we arrived late at some 
tents, where Sheikh Yousouf was encamped ; we 
found here a man from Szalt, and two men from 
Herak in the Haouran, near the Druze country, 



456 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

who had come to reclaim the cattle robbed from 
them by Ismayel's people ( 80 ), according to what 
we had heard before. In the morning we removed 
to Ismayel's tents, when the cause of the 
stranger was pleaded, but it was before a most 
partial and interested tribunal, for Yousouf was 
the accused as well as the judge and arbitrator. He 
decided accordingly ; offering at the utmost to 
restore half the number that had been stolen. 
He accused them of having been in some shape 
the aggressors, but explained himself so little, 
that we did not learn what provocation he al- 
luded to, it was surprising to find that two places 
lying so very wide of each other, should have any 
disputes to settle ; there was much arguing and pre- 
varication. Towards noon we returned to Kerek. 

June 5. In the afternoon we proceeded on our 
journey to the northward, accompanied by 
Sheikhs Yousouf and Ismayel, Dawood, his ne- 
phew, and the two men of Herak, together 
with the man from Szalt. We passed over 
a fine country, flat, and higher than Kerek, 
keeping in a N. N. E. direction ; the corn was 
luxuriant in all directions, and the reapers 
were working. Several sites which we passed, 
proved that the population of this country was 
formerly proportioned to its natural fertility. 
In about two hours we reached Rabba, for- 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 457 

merly Rabbath-Moab, afterwards Areopolis ; the 
ruins are situated on an eminence, and present 
nothing of interest, except two old ruined Roman 
temples, and some tanks. The whole circuit of 
the town does not seem to have exceeded a mile, 
which is a small extent for a city that was the 
capital of Moab, and which bore such a sounding 
Greek name. We were yet more surprised not to 
find any traces of walls about it. We passed the 
night at a small camp near the ruins ; it is the 
only Christian camp we have ever been in ; they 
told us there were altogether five encampments 
of Christians. They were poor people, but con- 
nected with families in Kerek ; occasionally they 
take their turn in the town, and send others to 
take theirs in the camp. A deep gully behind 
their tents led to the Dead Sea. This evening, 
about sun-set, we were deceived by a dark shade 
on the sea, which assumed so exactly the ap- 
pearance of an island, that we did not doubt of 
it, even after looking through a telescope. It is 
not the only time that such a phenomenon has 
presented itself to us ; in two instances, looking 
up the sea from its southern extremity, we saw 
it apparently closed by a low, dark line, like a bar 
of sand to the northward ; and on another oc- 
casion two small islands seemed to present them- 
selves between a long sharp promontory and 



458 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

the western shore. We were unable to account 
for these appearances, but felt little doubt that 
they are the same that deceived Mr. Seetzen into 
the supposition that he had discovered an island 
of some extent, which we have had opportunity 
of ascertaining, beyond all doubt, does not exist. 
It is not absolutely impossible, however, that he 
may have seen one of those temporary islands of 
bitumen which Pliny describes as being of several 
acres in extent, and from which he adds, that the 
Egyptians drew their store of resinous matter for 
embalming their mummies. 

June 6. This morning we visited the ruins of 
Beit-Kerm, distant from Rubba about one mile 
and a half to the north. The principal feature of 
them is a great building, evidently Roman, resem- 
bling that w r hich we took to have been a palace at 
Petra ; perhaps this is the temple of Atargatis, 
at Carnaim, as it is called in 1 Maccabees, v. 43. 
or Carnion, b. 2. xii. 26. A great number of tanks 
prove that this was once a populous place ( 81 ). 
There w ere four camps near the ruins ; we lodged 
in one ; the men of Herak renewed their discus- 
sions and remonstrances with Yousouf, for having 
returned to them but forty head of their cattle. 
These were driven along the same road by which 
we travelled, and the drivers generally halted 
w r hen we did. Two hours and a half north from 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 459 

Beit-Kerm there is a slight eminence, which 
forms a conspicuous object from all the country 
round, and is called " Sheikh Harn." 

June 7. During this day we visited several 
elevated heights, each commanding very fine 
views of the Dead Sea, which both comprehended 
the back-water at one end, and the Plains of 
Jericho at the other. Jerusalem and the Frank 
Mount were also discernible, and from the dif- 
ferent bearings which we made, we ascertained 
for a certainty that the length of the lake, As- 
phaltis, including the back-water, does not exceed 
thirty miles at the utmost, though the ancients 
have assigned to it a length of from seventy-five 
to eighty miles. From the first height the bear- 
ings were as follows ; J erusalem, N. W. j N. ; 
Frank Mount, N. W. f W. ; Jericho, N. by W. ; 
east end of the back-water, S. W. by S. From 
the second height, Sheikh Harn, E. J S. ; the first- 
mentioned hill, N. N. E. h E. ; the Strait leading 
to the back-water, W. S. W. | W. ; the village of 
the Ghorney's, S. W. by W. J W. ; the hollow 
of the bay W. S. W. J W. ; Jericho, N. | W. ; the 
extremity of the back-water, S. W. j S. Jeru- 
salem and the Frank Mount were not visible, it 
being very late in the day. 

On reaching the tents we found the men of 
Herak out of all patience at Yousouf s injustice 



460 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

in making so little retribution ; they called us 
aside to assure us that he was no better than a 
robber, and hoped that we would publish and 
confirm their complaints at Damascus. " We 
will drag him by the beard," said they " to 
Mezeereeb/' But it would be no easy task to 
force the lord of Kerek out of his district. 

June 8. We proceeded to the northward, and 
in about two hours arrived upon the brink of the 
Wady Modjeb the ancient Arnon ; on looking 
down, it has more the appearance of a precipice 
than a road, and although the Roman way 
coincides with the modern track very near to the 
brink, and again about half way down it, it 
must have been in a very different state, at least 
from that by which we descended, and which is 
not only extremely steep, but so interrupted with 
rocks and stones, that we were obliged to dismount 
and lead our horses full half way down the descent. 
In this rocky space there is only here and there a 
straggling turpentine tree ; about half way the 
declivity is more earthy and shelving ; here- 
abouts we recovered the Roman highway. It is 
not here as above, completely paved, but at 
regular intervals a line of stones is carried 
across the road in the manner of a step, to 
prevent the washing away of the earth from 
above, and to serve as a resting place in the 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 



46 1 



descent. On the right hand of the road, a 
shallow tank of considerable size, walled round 
with thick and good masonry, is placed on the 
side of the hill ; and below it, at only a few yards 
distance, are the remains of a large square build- 
ing which we took to be a Roman military 
station ; there was another above on the brink of 
the precipice. We found several mile-stones ; all 
those which were legible, were of the time of 
Trajan. The valley of the Arnon is less shrubby 
than that of most other streams in this country, 
which is probably ascribable to the violence and 
frequency of its torrents. There are, however, a 
few tamarisks, and here and there an oleander 
growing about it ; it is not more than three paces 
wide where the Roman road comes down upon 
the stream, and there remains a high single arch, 
measuring twenty-eight feet nine inches in per- 
pendicular height, and thirty-one feet six inches 
in space ; the remnants of the other arches of the 
bridge have all disappeared. The descent occu- 
pied one hour and a half. In our ascent up the 
opposite side, we followed mostly the ancient 
road, and found some more Roman mile-stones ; 
one of Marcus Aurelius. We found the road on 
this side as steep as it was on the other, and it 
was remarkable in this pass, that from either side 
looking to the other, there appeared no possible 



462 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

mode of ascent. We had now passed from the 
land of the Moabites into that of the Amorites. 
It is observable that as far as the eye could 
follow the course of the stream from the heights, 
the valley is neither of a size or nature that could 
ever have admitted of cultivation, or have given 
room for the placing of any village or city on its 
banks, which makes it probable that those places, 
which were supposed to stand upon the river, 
were in reality only in the adjacent district. 

We found the territory of the Amorites a plane 
down, of a smoother and evener turf than that of 
Moab, and with much fewer stones scattered over 
it. We soon recovered the ancient road, and in 
forty-five minutes reached Diban, the Dibon of 
Scripture, Numb. xxi. 30. and Jeremiah, xlviii. 18. 
The extent of these remains is considerable, but 
not so large as Rabba. The ruins present no- 
thing of interest. In the afternoon we arrived at 
a camp in the Wady Wale, pitched on the banks 
of the river, which this year seems to have swollen 
to a prodigious degree ; the oleanders are here 
more numerous than we have ever seen them ; 
some which is very rare bore a white flower, 
the rushing of the waters had rooted many of 
them up, and the whole were thrown aslant by 
the course of the torrent, the marks of which were 
seen upon them to the height of fifteen feet. On 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 463 

the left bank stands a stone about ten feet high 
four feet wide at the base in its broadest part, 
and not more than one foot at the narrowest ; it 
has been set up an end by art, being placed contrary 
to the natural direction of the strata, and at right 
angles to the stream very near the bank. We 
supposed it to be one of those ancient bound 
stones of which we read so frequently in Scrip- 
ture. Across the stream, but at a greater dis- 
tance from its channel, is another similar stone, 
bearing obliquely on the path, its broadside 
parallel to the stream. There are no signs of 
sculpture on them, nor is there any appearance of 
their having ever been wrought, with the tool ( 82 ). 
There is in this same valley another rude work, 
that may be referred to a remote period ; it is 
higher up by perhaps a quarter of a mile than 
the two bound stones. A knoll, of very moderate 
height, rises detached near the centre of the valley, 
upon the right bank of the rivulet. On its sum- 
mit are the remains of a very large quadrangular 
platform, constructed of rude stones laid together 
without cement. It is possible that this may be 
one of the " altars of the high places." It is still 
a place in some measure consecrated ; there is a 
tomb at the top with paltry Bedouin votive offer- 
ings hanging about it. About a mile lower down 
the valley, are the remains of a Roman bridge of 



464 TRAVLS ROUND [LETTER V. 

five arches ; all are fallen, and nothing but the 
foundation of the piers is left. Near this bridge 
are other ruins. These were the first objects in our 
days' journey, on the ninth. From hence we passed 
upwards out of the valley ; near the ancient paved 
road there were several mile-stones, one of 
which was of Severus. We passed, at the foot of 
Djebal Attarous, which probably may be Nebo, 
although it is far from opposite Jericho. We now 
entered a fertile plain of corn, and stopped at a 
camp near the ruins of Mayn, which both the 
name and the neighbouring hot-waters seem to 
identify with the Baal Meon of Scripture ; it stands 
on a considerable eminence. In the afternoon, 
we went to a height which commands a fine 
view of the Dead Sea, and is very near on a 
parallel with its northern extremity. Here we 
took the following bearings ; J ericho, N. W. I N. 
Mouth of the Jordan, N. W. j N. ; Rama of 
Samuel, N. W. by W. ; Djebal Attarous, S. W. ; 
Frank Mountain, W. N. W. % W. ; Sheikh 
Harn, S. J W. Below us was a ruin of a 
square form which we could not get at ; from 
its position we thought it might possibly be He- 
rodium. At sun-set we returned to the camp 
near Mayn, from whence there are a great num- 
ber of ruined sites visible, and amongst the 
the rest Heshbon, bearing N. E. I N. 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 465 

We engaged a guide from our tents, who un- 
dertook to carry us to the sources of hot-water ; 
our route was S. W. ; in less than half an hour 
we reached another tall stone, set up apparently 
as a boundary mark, like those in the Wady-el- 
Wale. The direct track is continued from this 
first, round the southern side of a rocky knoll ris- 
ing to some height, and in a great measure de- 
tached from the surrounding hills. Some remark- 
able objects, of which we got a glimpse, induced us 
to pass round on the other side of this knoll ; they 
are rude sepulchral monuments of the same na- 
ture with those we discovered on our road from 
Szalt to the Jordan on our last tour ; yet, as the 
former are rude throughout, without any mark 
whatever of the tool about them, whereas the 
others have universally a door in one of the smal- 
ler ends, it is possible that they may date from a 
remoter period, or have belonged to a still ruder 
people. Their proportions vary considerably, as 
does their aspect, though the construction is uni- 
form ; one flat stone is laid in at the bottom, and 
this there can be little doubt covers the grave of 
the deceased ; and, as there is no appearance of 
the tombs ever having been violated, it probably 
protects them to this day. They would be a 
highly interesting object for excavation, as it 
might possibly lead to the ascertaining of the 

H H 



466 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER. V. 

form of some of the weapons and warlike apparel 
mentioned in Scripture. It is worth noticing, that 
however remote may be the period to which these 
sepulchres are to be referred, the stature of those 
contained in them, is so far from gigantic, that it 
seems to have amounted to no more than the 
middle size of modern times. 

Not only this rocky eminence, upon which we 
first observed them, is covered over on all sides 
with these barbarous structures, but some few 
are scattered in the fields upon a lower level, and 
a great many upon the sides of the surrounding 
hills, insomuch that not less than fifty were in 
sight at one time. We were puzzled to think to 
what city this necropolis belonged ; Mayn being 
more than a mile off, in a straight line, would seem 
too distant. Some which we had passed on our 
left hand the afternoon before, called Dher, were 
now visible, upon an eminence at no great dis- 
tance to the north. Passing on, we found our- 
selves in an ancient highway, not paved, but edged 
with stones, and possibly prior to Roman times. 
Arriving at the brink of a deep descent, towards 
the Zerka Mayn, we found the track steep, wind- 
ing, and long. In about two hours from Mayn 
we reached the bed of the Torrent Zerka Mayn, 
which we crossed, and kept along it in a western 
direction. We saw ten animals which the Arabs 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 467 

call Meddn or Beddn ; they are of the goat species, 
as large as asses, with long knotty horns which 
stand upright ; some had beards ; in colour they 
resembled the gazelle. In four hours from Mayn 
we had reached the place where it was necessary 
to dismount, the appearance beyond being that of 
a precipice. Through this, a narrow path has 
been contrived in a zig-zag direction, which makes 
the descent tolerably safe. In the last stage of 
the path there is a fine burst of the Dead Sea at 
the end of the ravine, with a view of the Frank 
Mount, and Bethlehem open beyond it ; the for- 
mer bearing N. N. W. Looking down into the 
valley of Calirrhoe, it presents some grand and 
romantic features. The rocks vary between red, 
grey, and black, and have a bold and imposing 
appearance. The whole bottom is filled, and in 
a manner choked with a crowded thicket of canes 
and aspines of different species, intermixed with 
the palm, which is also seen rising in tufts in the 
recesses of the mountain's side, and in every place 
whence the springs issue. In one place a con- 
siderable stream of hot-water is seen precipitating 
itself from a high and perpendicular shelf of rock, 
which is strongly tinted with the brilliant yellow 
of sulphur deposited upon it. On reaching the 
bottom we found ourselves at what may be 
termed a hot river, so copious and rapid is it, 



46S TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V, 

and its heat so little abated; this continues as it 
passes downwards by its receiving constant sup- 
plies of water of the same temperature. In 
order to visit these sources in succession, we 
crossed over to the right bank, and ascending by 
the mountain side, we passed four abundant 
springs, all within the distance of half a mile, 
discharging themselves into the stream at 
right angles with its course. We judged the 
distance from the Dead Sea, by the ravine, 
to be about one hour and a half. Macbean 
says, that there was a cognominal city at Ca- 
lirrhoe ; in which we think, from the very na- 
ture of the place, he must be wrong, since 
there is not space or footing for a town in the 
valley as far as we saw it. That Herod must 
have had some lodging when he visited these 
springs is true, and there are sufficient remains to 
prove that some sort of buildings have been 
erected. The whole surface of the shelf, where 
the springs are, is strewed over with tiles and 
broken pottery ; and what is most surprising, 
within very few minutes, without any particular 
search, four ancient copper medals were found; 
all were too much defaced to be distinguishable, 
but they appeared to be Roman. Our Arab 
guide here took a vapour bath according to 
the practice of the country ; a bed of twigs and 



LETTER V.J THE DEAD SEA. 4ft? 

broom was laid across a crevice, whence one of 
the springs issued at the height of a foot or two 
from the water; on this he laid himself, wrapped 
in his Abba, and only remained a few minutes ; 
the effect of the steam upon him was soon very 
evident. We observed another of these sweating 
beds a little further down. We had no thermo- 
meter, but the degree of heat in the water seemed 
very great; near the source it scalds the hand> 
which cannot be kept in for the space of half a 
minute. The deposit of sulphur is very great? 
but the water is tasteless to the palate. A very 
singular plant grows near the hot sources, of the 
bulk and stature of a tree ; its foliage does not 
s eem to differ from that of the common broom. 
It bears a pod hanging down from it, about a 
foot or fourteen inches in length, fluted with 
convex ribs from the end to the point ; we never 
met with this before. After bathing, we returned 
by the same road, and passing our old camp a* 
Mayn, proceeded to the great encampment of the 
Benesuckhers near Madeba. We arrived at 
night-fall ; there were more than two hundred 
tents scattered over a great extent of ground; 
we alighted at that of the chief " Ebn Fayes," 
which was at least one hundred feet long. The 
chief, and his brother, the same who was with us 
on our former Djerash expedition, and from 



470 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

whom we escaped to Szalt, received us outside their 
tent ( 83 ). They were dressed in handsome silk 
caftans from Damascus. Sheikh Yousouf had 
previously been invested with an ermine pe- 
lisse and made an odd figure, having his 
red tanned sheep-skin underneath it. The three 
close sides of the tent were allotted to the visitors, 
the two chiefs sitting on the open side scarcely 
within the cover of the tent. The elder brother, 
who has a hair lip, called for his one-stringed 
fiddle and played to us, singing at the same time. 
On our enquiring the purport of his song, he said 
it was the " death of his father," who we learned 
had been killed in battle; the notes, though bu^ 
little varied, were plaintive and harmonious ( 85 ). 
There was within the tent a messenger from 
Damascus, whom we had once seen at Kerek ; 
he had arrived in the course of the afternoon to 
summon or invite Ebn Fayes to go to Damascus 
to the pashaw. It was supposed his object was 
either to make some arrangement with the Bene- 
suckhers for the. safe conduct of the hadj to 
Mekka, as the Annasees under Sheikh Narsah were 
in rebellion; or to endeavour to reconcile the 
division which had taken place between the 
Benesuckhers, that they might be a check against 
the Annasees. To the accidental presence of this 
man, the reception we met with was probably 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 47 1 

owing; and we were lucky in the absence of 
Abdel Khader, the prime minister, our former 
enemy. The wooden dish in which our supper 
was served, was of a size to require four iron 
handles, and was brought in by three persons. 

June 11. This morning, we were told that 
Ebn Fayes was already on his way to Damascus. 
His brother remained with us. We requested of 
him a guide for Oom-i-Rasass, which after some 
hesitation and talk of danger and enemies, was 
promised, and an agreement in money made ; we 
were to pass by Madeba as we advanced. After 
breakfast we proceeded. At Madeba, the only 
object of interest was an immense tank ( Bf5 ). At 
three we reached Oom-i-Rasass (Mother of Stones), 
We found the ruins very extensive, and evidently 
Christian ; there were the remains of a stone wall 
which enclosed the whole city ; the cross is often 
to be met with, but there is no architectural 
remnant worthy of notice. Mr. Bankes, with his 
janissary, took a second tour in search of inscrip- 
tions, while we remained under the wall. While 
walking about the ruins, an armed Bedouin made 
his appearance and robbed him of his abba. Ex- 
cepting in our journey to Palmyra, we here saw 
more camels than we had ever before met with. 

June 12. We reached Heshbon in the evening, 
where we found Sheikh Yousouf, the man of Szalt, 
and the young prince of the Benesuckhers ; our 
first object was to see the ruins, and to inspect the 



472 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

celebrated pools ; but just at starting we received 
a message from Ebn Fayes, to demand payment 
for permission to proceed; we sent word in reply, 
that we had already paid him on a former oc- 
casion; in answer, we received a message to this 
effect, tell them, said the young man, u that the 
first that moves from the tent receives this ball 
(presenting a pistol) through his body." The 
firman was now mentioned; he said he cared 
nothing for firmans ; that he considered them only 
fit for those who were weak enough to obey them; 
that he was Grand Seignior, and every thing else 
here, and that we must pay. While thus de- 
tained, a man brought some wheat to parch ( 87 ), 
and to our surprise we observed the ears of an 
unusual size, one of them exceeding in dimensions 
two of the ordinary sort, and on one stalk ( 88 ). Mr. 
Legh procured some, which he brought to Eng- 
land; it has succeeded very well; we have since 
learnt that it is not wholly unknown to botanists ; 
it is a bearded wheat. The annexed drawing is 
from nature, though to prevent delay in printing 
this book, the plant was unavoidably gathered too 
early (July 20) to convey a correct idea of its size 
when at maturity. After some delay, Ebn Fayes 
seeing we were not inclined to give in, sent word 
that we might proceed. We found the ruins un- 
interesting, and the only pool we saw, was too 
insignificant for one of those mentioned in Scrip- 
ture. In two of the cisterns amongst the ruins 



HtsTvb <m "Wheat. . English "Wheat . 
Weight' 

/03* r or t £ 3? » *? & 

JLcng/bh. of Straw- 

JAt-mdrr qf (rraxms i,-n< idu. JScur 

84 4< 



BL IE § BL IB © IN" 



VHEAT. 



-Miis S-bricJclarul <leZ 



JPrin&a!. it? 6 ' .■JTal&m.ii.Tieltl. 



LETTER V.J THE DEAD SEA. 473 

we found about three dozen of human sculls and 
bones (*). 

June 13. We left Heshbon, passing by a 
stream which, if followed, would probably have 
led to the pools. We then proceeded along the 
road to Szalt, and in about four hours ar- 
rived at a place called by the natives Arrag- 
el-Emir. Here are the ruins of an edifice 
constructed of very large stones, some of which 
are twenty feet long, and so broad that one 
stone constitutes the thickness of the wall. The 
ruin is situated upon a square platform or terrace, 
of some extent, with a stream below. From the si- 
tuation, and from the circumstance of large beasts, 
in relievo, being sculptured about it, Mr. Bankes 
believed it to be the palace of Hircan, who, accord- 
ing to J osephus, being driven across the J ordan by 
his brother Alexander, king of Jerusalem, had built 
a palace in this neighbourhood, surrounded by 
hanging gardens, traces of which are yet visible. 
There are many artificial caves in a large range 
of perpendicular cliff near it; some of these are 
in the form of regular stables, in which feeding- 
troughs still remain, sufficient for thirty or forty 
horses, with holes in the live rock for the head 
fastenings. Some of the caves are chambers and 
small sleeping apartments, probably for servants 
and attendants. There are two rows of these cham- 
bers; the upper one has a sort of projecting bal- 



474 



TRAVELS ROUND 



[letter V. 



cony across the front of the chambers. There 
is one large hall finely proportioned, with some 
Hebrew characters inscribed over the door-way; 
the whole is approached by a sort of causeway. 
We spent the whole remaining part of the day 
here, and slept at an adjoining camp. On the 
hill, immediately above the palace, are the remains 
of a small temple much in ruins. 

June 14. We advanced to Szalt, passing 
through a richly wooded and picturesque coun- 
try; we arrived early in the afternoon, and 
lodged in the castle. We remained at Szalt 
until the 16th, when we proceeded three hours 
in the direction of Amman. Near this place we 
passed the night in a camp belonging to the 
party of the Benesuckhers hostile to Ebn Fayes, 
and we employed the chief part of the next day 
in examining the ruins of Rabbath Ammon, after 
wards Philadelphia, and now Amman. They 
stand in a long valley, a stream running through 
them, which has been arched over. The ruins 
are extensive, but there remains nothing of much 
interest excepting the theatre, which is very large 
and perfect, and a small odeum close to it. There 
are the vestiges also of many other Roman edi- 
fices, as well as of Christian churches. We did 
not find any inscriptions. 

June 17. We passed the night at an Arab 
camp, about three miles distant on the road to 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 475 

Djerash. Here old Yousouf was again accused 
of having stolen cattle from the people ; it was 
said to have happened four years ago. After 
much dispute he ended the argument by saying 
that " he was one of those people who never re- 
turned any thing after it was once in his power." 

June 18. At dawn of day we advanced. In 
about two hours Yousouf took leave of us to re- 
turn to Kerek. He had made strong demands 
for money, both for himself and his nephew 
Daoud, though at Szalt we had made him a 
present of two hundred piastres over and above 
his agreement. He also tried to make us give an 
exorbitant sum to our guide for Djerash, but 
failed. Notwithstanding all this it must be ad- 
mitted that he strictly and honestly adhered to 
his contract with us ; and it is doubtful whether 
we should ever have succeeded in reaching Wady 
Mousa in safety, if it had not been for him. His 
only dishonesty towards us was borrowing money 
from Mr. Bankes, and refusing to repay it; but 
where all are rogues, and cheating and imposition 
are reckoned honourable and fair, and do not at 
all hurt the character of a man amongst his com- 
panions, one must not expect too much. 

We crossed the Zerka, the Jabbok of Scripture 
( 90 ), the northern boundary of the Amorites about 
noon, and at two in the afternoon reached 



476 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

Djerash. We employed this and part of the 
next day in making those measurements of the 
public edifices which we had left unfinished be- 
fore; most of them were Christian churches* 
Among many new inscriptions which we found, 
was one recording the dedication of one of the 
churches to a Christian saint. Macbean, in 
quoting Eusebius, says, " that the Christians, 
just before the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, were 
divinely admonished to fly to Pella;" and 
Strabo notices, « that it abounded in water;'' 
from Ptolemy he adds, that Pella was si- 
tuated thirty-five miles to the N. E. of Gerasa." 
Macbean also quotes from Ptolemy and Josephus, 
<e that Gerasse was at the east side of the sea of 
Tiberias;" these authorities seem to shew that 
the ruins at Djerash are those of Pella rather 
than Gerasa. In short, nothing but the similarity 
of names would lead one to suppose that they 
are Gerasa. 

June 19. Intending to proceed to the valley 
of the Jordan, by the way of a place called 
Rajib, where we expected to find the ruins of 
Ragaba, we quitted Djerash in the afternoon, and 
passed through Katty, and another village where 
there are some Roman remains in the mosque, 
about half an hour beyond it. We entered a very 
picturesque country, most beautifully varied with 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 477 

hanging woods,, mostly of the Vallonia oak, 
laurestinus, cedar, common arbutus, arbutus 
Andrachne, &c. the latter in some instances was 
nearly six feet in cicumference ; at times the grounds 
had all the appearance of a noble park; in short, 
nothing could exceed the beauty of this day's 
ride ; there were some few spots cultivated with 
corn. As we advanced the wood became more 
thick; and at dark we stopped at a small open 
space covered with high grass and weeds. We 
went with our guide to a small distance to en- 
deavour to shoot some wild boars; we hid our- 
selves close to the water, where all the trees were 
marked with mud left by the hogs in rubbing 
themselves. We heard them plainly advancing, 
but one of the horses unluckily making a noise, 
they all ran off. These animals we were told are 
very numerous here. We returned to our bi- 
vouack. Our guide refused to go for water, 
fearing the serpents in the high grass. Mr. Legh, 
in the night, feeling something move underneath 
him, rose to see what it was, and found an adder 
coming up to him from under the edge of his 
blanket, attracted no doubt by the warmth of 
his body, as the night air was very cold; having 
a knife by him he cut the reptile in halves. In 
the morning we found another close to our sleep- 
ing place. 



478 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

June 20. We started at dawn, and descending 
still through a thick wood, arrived at ten, at the 
village of Rajib, which contains no ruins what- 
ever; though we had previously passed in the 
wood a Roman architrave, in a small open space, 
where our guide told us there had once been a 
village; no other vestiges of which remain. 
Rajib is situated a little without, and below the 
woodlands. At noon we began a rapid descent 
towards the valley of the Jordan, and reached it 
in two hours. We saw nine wild pigs in our 
way; they were all in one herd; four hours 
more, in a northerly direction, brought us to the 
Bysan ford, and we arrived at that town after 
dark. 

June 21. We went to Tiberias, and the 23rd 
visited Mount Tabor on our way to Nazareth. 
Maundrell over-rates the view from this eminence ; 
we saw nothing striking except the beautiful 
plain of Esdredon. In a cave, amongst the ruins 
of the town, on the top of Tabor, we noticed 
many travellers' names; and amongst others, that 
of Mr. Wright, who visited this place when first 
lieutenant of the Tigre with Sir Sydney Smith, 
and who afterwards died in the Temple at Paris ; 
Sheikh Ibrahim's name was also there. For Naza- 
reth and its neighbourhood we refer you to 
Maundrell. 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 479 

June 25. Went to Acre. During our stay 
at Acre we witnessed an instance of unfeel- 
ing barbarity. On going to breakfast at the con- 
sul's, his Greek servant, who had been very ill for 
some days before, was lying outside the door, and 
actually expired on the floor before us as we 
entered the room, unattended by either medical or 
any other assistance. The corpse lay neglected for 
some time, before any one could be found to take it 
away, all refusing to touch it lest they should be 
at the trouble and expense of burying it. At 
last the Turkish authorities interfered and the 
body was removed. As we have now been 
more amongst the Arabs, and have had better 
opportunities of studying their manners and 
habits than on our former short journey to 
Palmyra, some farther observations upon them 
become necessary. The love of liberty created 
in the wandering Bedouin, by his erratic habits, 
is instinctively cherished by him from his very 
infancy ; impatient of every species of controul, 
and proud of his indepedence, he disowns and 
scorns the cultivating Arab. We found these 
people still deserving 'of their character for hos- 
pitality, but we never heard of the celebrated 
story of bread and salt, mentioned by Volney ; if 
the mere eating of bread and salt with an Arab was 
a security from imposition, Sheikh Sahlem, when 
threatening us, would have said, "had you not ate 



480 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

bread and salt with ine,&c." instead of "had you not 
Shiekh Yousouf with you ;" for we had feasted 
with Sahlem in his own tent, before we had 
the difference with him. Mr. Bankes was im- 
prisoned, and Sir William Chatterton robbed of 
his breeches at Palmyra, after eating bread 
and salt, and we had feasted with Ebn Fayes at 
Heshbon, before his ill treatment of us. It would 
certainly be a most noble commendation to ad- 
vance in their favour were it true. There is a 
great deal of good breeding amongst them, a 
sheikh arriving at another's tent, seats himself 
opposite his friend to avoid all appearance of pre- 
eminence, so that either side of the tent is oc- 
cupied, while the end, the " post of honour," re- 
mains vacant. When Mr. Bankes presented the 
Sheikh of Souf with a dress, he immediately sent 
it into the harem, without looking at it in the 
presence of the donor ; and the people of Kerek, 
on our arrival, although our appearance must 
have been so novel to them, abstained from asking 
any questions. But although civil, they had a 
great contempt for us, and observing how auk- 
wardly we ate with our hands, for we never, dur- 
ing the whole tour, saw a spoon, or knife, or 
fork, they remarked amongst themselves, " Poor 
fellows ! they don't even know how to eat ; they eat 
like camels." If an Arab chief gives you coffee first 
he takes none after, not choosing to drink after 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 481 

a Christian. Thieving, pilfering, low cunning, 
lying, and cheating, are not considered as dis- 
honourable acts amongst them ; we were all of us 
robbed of some of our effects. On one occasion, 
Mr, Bankes's drawing of the grand temple at 
Petra was purloined, and after some days' ne~ 
gociation, he was allowed to purchase it back 
again, they having confessed all the time that 
they had it. Mr. Legh's Bible was also pilfered 
in the same manner, and never recovered. Mr. 
Bankes's two paint boxes were also stolen, and 
many other articles were lost. Our diet, while 
we were with them, varied according to the 
wealth or poverty of the tribe ; sometimes we had 
pillaw of rice, or of wheat mixed with leban 
(sour milk), sometimes mutton boiled the moment 
the animal is skinned ( 92 ), and generally in leban, 
a custom alluded to in Scripture ( 93 ). This mode 
of cooking renders the meat very delicious and 
tender ; far preferable to meat boiled in water : 
the milk enriched with the juice of the meat is 
poured on the pillaw of rice or wheat ( 94 ). Some- 
times we had melted butter, and bread baked on 
an iron plate in the form of a pancake to dip in 
it. The staple of the Arabs food, however, is 
leban and bread. The milk was usually pre- 
sented in a wooden bowl, and the liquid butter 
in an earthenware dish ( 95 )V The party being 

i i 



482 TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

seated round, dipped their bread in, endeavour- 
ing to make it imbibe as much as possible. The 
Arabs were very expert at this, pinching the thin 
cake in such a form as to make a sort of spoon 
of it. This mode of eating is alluded to in Scrip- 
ture at the feast of the Passover ( 96 ). Occasionally 
a bowl of milk only was presented to us, which 
was passed round in rotation. Once we had 
milk sweetened and curdled to the consis- 
tency of liquid jelly, too thick to be drank, and 
very aukward to be taken up with the hands, 
though it w r as the only method of eating it. A 
rich dish of rice and cream was once given us as 
a great treat. All the way between Kerek and 
Petra, we had meat served up alone, without 
bread or even pillaw of rice or wheat. We could 
not at all reconcile ourselves to this diet, which 
we found used in this district only. When the 
Arabs have an over supply of leban, they have a 
method of preserving it by pressing out the more 
liquid parts, and drying the curds, which may 
then be kept for some time ; this substance has 
the appearance of soft chalk, when mixed with 
w r ater it makes an agreeable acid drink. 

When we had pillaw of grain, it often served 
also for a candlestick, the candle being fixed in 
the middle of the dish. An Arab, when he wishes 
to pay you very particular attention, pulls your 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 483 

meat to pieces with his fingers and throws it to 
you. We never saw roasted meat among the 
Arabs, except at Narsah's tent at Palmyra. They 
have no fruits or vegetables ; their wandering life 
depriving them of such enjoyments. It is their 
custom from time immemorial, to lodge and feed 
all travellers and their horses for one night free of 
all expense ; as the practice is general, it is equally 
beneficial to all. We never once paid for food 
or corn during the whole of our journey, and the 
expenses of the whole party, eleven persons and 
as many horses, amounted to one thousand five 
hundred piastres ; a piastre is worth nine-pence 
of our money, this was from the fifth of May to 
the twenty-fifth of June. Each owner of a tent 
takes it by turns to feed the strangers that may 
arrive. Their jokes were sometimes rather 
rough; on one occasion, an Arab put a living 
scorpion inside my jacket ( 9T ), luckily, some time 
after, I had occasion to make the usual daily 
search for vermin, when I discovered the reptile. 
At the Ghor, when we asked if a poisonous fruit 
was good, they said it was. 

The women weave carpets and cloth for their 
tents, which are mostly black, and curtains which 
are striped white and black. Goat's hair ( 98 ) is 
manufactured for this purpose. The women 
have hard work, they grind the corn with a 
hand-mill, bring the water and wood, cook, and 



484 . TRAVELS ROUND [LETTER V. 

in short do all the drudgery, while the men sit 
down and smoke all day. The children guard 
the flocks, the girls always having a bundle of 
wool at their backs for spinning ("). The form of 
the tents is oblong. We frequently observed negroes 
in their camps, apparently not slaves ; and some 
had the short woolly hair of the Africans. It may 
not be amiss here to mention, that, though we 
never had any apprehensions of personal safety 
from the Arabs, yet there are some grounds for 
the dread these people are held in throughout 
Syria, as we met with many dead bodies concealed 
in the country frequented by them ; we saw 
twenty in one of the Roman tombs near Nablous, 
the mouth of which had been shut up with 
stones ; three in one of the theatres at Om 
Keis ; twenty four skulls, &c. in the theatre 
at Bysan, and subsequently twenty two in the 
ruins at Heshbon. Whenever we enquired about 
these proofs, the Arabs always owned they were 
the remains of people whom they had murdered, 
and they did not appear to be in the least 
ashamed of the deed. Oue in particular at Om 
Keis was stated to be a soldier. To keep your 
arms on in a tent, is considered very ill bred, as 
implying a distrust in the protection of the roof 
you are under ; and whenever we forgot to dis- 
arm, the Arabs always requested us to do so. 
These people are frequently without water, 



LETTER V.] THE DEAD SEA. 485 

and sometimes even that which they have is dirty 
and bad ; nevertheless they are " lords of the 
desert/' pay no tribute, and have nothing what- 
ever to do with governours of any description. 

The desert, as one of the ancient authors, I 
think Diodorus, observes, is their fort, whither they 
retire as to a place of certain safety on any ap- 
pearance of attack. The state and equipage of 
the sheikhs is maintained by means of a revenue 
derived from a tithe which they exact for all 
the cattle, the camels excepted ( 10 °). This tenth 
of the innumerable herds and flocks, yields the 
chiefs a very handsome income. The supper in 
Sheikh Narsah's and EbnFayes' tents was bountiful 
in the extreme ; and, as this profuse hospitality is 
extended to all strangers, there must needs be 
ample store to meet so great a demand. 

It is surprising, that in so monotonous a life, 
they have no amusements, no games, no athletic 
employments, to make a little change in their 
custom of squatting down and smoking all day. 
^.11 their carpets, cushions, sacks, and in short, 
every thing they have are covered with vermin, so 
that it is impossible to avoid them. We used to 
kill from off our clothes from forty to a hundred 
every day ; and of a night, we frequently ob- 
served the Arabs searching and shaking their linen 
over the fire, the vermin making a cracking noise 



486 TRAVELS ROUND THE DEAD SEA. [LETTER V. 

as they fell into the flames. Old Yousouf used to 
make a singular figure, with his sword drawn, 
detaching them from his back. At one time my 
sides were quite raw from scratching. On settling 
our accounts, both for this last journey, and the 
Previous one from Tiberias, we found the ex- 
pences of each, much less than we had an- 
ticipated. 

July 12th. We embarked on board an impe- 
rial brig belonging to Venice for Constantinople, 
as the consuls on the coast, the merchants, and 
both Mr. Bankes and Mr. Leigh agreed in opinion, 
that it would have been madness to have gone to 
the coast of Asia Minor at this season of the year, 
when the pestilential air forces all the inhabitants 
of the coast to quit their habitations, and retire 
to the mountains during the summer. We have, 
therefore, deferred this part of the tour for a short 
time. Our friend, Mr. Legh, left Acre for this 
place by land, a short time before we did, intend- 
ing to visit Palmyra, Baalbec, Damascus, and 
Aleppo. Mr. Bankes went by water to Egypt, 
with the intention of penetrating into Abyssinia 
by way of the second cataract. We were truly 
sorry to part with such excellent companions. 



LETTER VL 



Departure from Constantinople for Scutari. — Cross an arm 
of the sea of Marmora, and proceed through Kisdervent. 
— Isnik. — Lefke.—Bilejik. — Shuhut. — Eski-Shehr. 
— Sidi Gazi. — Khosru Khan. — Bulwudun. — Isaklu. — 
Ak-Shehr. — Ifeun. — Khadun Khan. — Ladik. — Ko- 

o 

nieh. — Karabignar. — Erkle, — Olukooshlah. — Take- 
hur — Kolinkboaz. to Tersoos, — thence through Pom- 
peiopolis, and several other ruins, to Chelindreh. 

Cyprus, 10th December. 
Having equipped ourselves with a tolerable 
Turkish travelling costume, a firman, a transla- 
tion of which herewith, and two biruldies for 
post-horses; the fees for the former, were fifteen 
piastres ; and the latter forty-four. We crossed 
over from Constantinople in the afternoon of the 
29th of September, to Scutari, accompanied by 
a Tartar whom we had agreed to pay ten piastres 
per day, and to allow a sum for his return to 
Constantinople from Athens; we had with diffi- 
culty reduced the latter allowance from four 
hundred, which he demanded, to two hundred 



488 TRAVELS IN [LETTER VI. 

piastres ; the journey being only eight days, and 
for which he had a separate biruldi, for three 
horses, gratis. We had only engaged this man 
at so high a price, in the hope that he might 
assist us in enforcing the orders Ave had for our 
horses free of expense, which would have 
amounted to much more than his wages. Besides 
the Tartar, we had only one servant, and scarcely 
any baggage. 

Our intention was to have pushed through the 
heart of Asia Minor, from Scutari to Tersoos, 
and from thence to the coast, through Cilicia, 
Pamphylia, Lycia, Caria, and Ionia to Smyrna^ 
visiting the different antiquities that came in 
our way. From Smyrna we intended to pass on 
to Pergamus and Troy, cross the Dardanelles, 
and proceed to Athens by land, to which place 
we had directed our baggage to be forwarded 
from Constantinople. We should have preferred 
purchasing our animals, and selling them again at 
the end of the journey ; in this manner the daily 
expenses would have been restricted to provisions 
only, while the travelling firman, if properly worded, 
would have obtained fodder gratis. But this plan 
would not have admitted of the expedition we 
wished; we, therefore, used the post-horses. 
We found, however, that this method was as 
expensive as if we had paid for the horses' lure ; for 



LETTER VI.} ASIA MINOR. 489 

although the biruldies state the horses are to be 
supplied free of expense, it is customary to fee 
the postmasters, which our Tartar did to such a 
degree, including every body who chose to ask 
him for money, that when we included his wages, 
and the expense of his return to Constantinople, 
the daily amount at least equalled what the hire 
of the horses, without a Tartar, would have come 
to. We were detained at the post-house, at Scutari, 
till sun-set, before we could procure horses, when 
we proceeded through a beautiful country, the 
road passing generally near the sea of Marmora. 
We traversed the villages of Gaobin and Ben- 
dick. 

September 30th. At two in the morning we ar- 
rived at Ghiviza, said to be the Lybissa of antiquity, 
the place where Hannibal was buried. We re- 
mained here only an hour, and at day-light reached 
the ferry, whence we crossed over an arm of the 
sea of Marmora to a coffee-house detached from 
the village of Ersek, where we were to receive 
fresh post-horses. At the upper extremity of 
this bay are the ruins of the ancient Nicomedia. 
This ferry is used to shorten the road, instead 
of being obliged to go all round the bay ; 
we, therefore, missed the sight of the ruins of 
Nicodemia, which we did not much regret, as 
Messrs. Bayley, Godfrey, and Wyse, had visited 



4^0 TRAVELS IN [LETTER VI. 

them from Constantinople while we were there ? 
and on their return reported., that they did not 
present sufficient remains to attract the traveller 
out of his way. 

We reposed till about ten o'clock, and then ad- 
vanced through a picturesque country. In six 
hours we arrived at a village called Kisdervent, 
where we again rested for about two hours* 
The natives of this village are entirely Greeks } 
they appeared an industrious people. It is situ- 
ated in a romantic valley, with a stream running 
through it ; there is a profusion of wild shrubs 
as well as gardens, and mulberries for the silk 
worms. We remained about two hours, and 
then advanced. Towards sun-set we quitted the 
valley and crossed some hills, when we came in 
sight of the lake Ascanius, which we bordered 
till ten at night, and then reached a considerable 
place, situated at its eastern extremity, called 
Isnik, or Tchinisli, on the site of the ancient 
Nicsea. The present town occupies but a very 
small portion of the ground enclosed by the 
ancient walls, which are in a tolerable state 
of preservation, and at the gate are several Greek 
inscriptions. There is little else of interest at 
Nicaea except the walls. In 1097 the place was 
taken by the famous Godefroi de Bouillon. The 
plain of Tchinisli is extremely rich and beautiful, 
has fine gardens, and is well watered. 



LETTER VI.] ASIA MINOR. 49 J 

October 1. In the morning we ascended a 
hilly country, whence, in seven hours, we de- 
scended into the town of Lefke, having first 
crossed a considerable river over which there is a 
bridge. This river appears to be a branch of 
the ancient Sangarius, which discharges itself into 
the Euxine Sea. An inscription by the road side, 
as we descended, shewed we were in the old way. 
We slept this night at a village called Bilejik, 
four hours beyond Lefke. The next day, in 
eight hours we arrived at Shuhut, situated in a 
beautiful valley, from whence we crossed hills, 
and in ten hours more arrived in Eski Shehr. 

October 3. At six o'clock we proceeded on 
our journey, through a country consisting of 
open, naked plains, and at noon stopped at Sidi 
Gazi. In this place are many ancient fragments, 
such as pieces of columns, friezes, altars, and in- 
scriptions. We remained one hour, and then as- 
cended through a woody country into park scenery, 
where we found a stag standing in the road ; he 
allowed us to come so near before he retired, that 
the Tartar dismounted to fire at him. At six we 
passed a road-side fountain, at which were several 
antique fragments ; one bore a Greek inscription 
and the cross. 

We stopped for the night at Khosru Khan, a 
miserable place, the houses being mere huts, built 



492 TRAVELS IN [LE TTER VI. 

of rough stones and timber ; and here we first came 
to the flat roofs. There are in the neighbourhood 
many remains of columns, an altar with a female 
figure, and another bearing a Greek inscription. 
The next day our road conducted us through a 
woody country ; at eight we breakfasted at a 
fountain built with stones, on some of which were 
Roman sculpture, and a Greek inscription. Towards 
noon we passed two ancient cemeteries, con- 
sisting of grottos cut out in the rock ; we examined 
some of them, but found them very much decayed 
and without plaster. Near to the last was also 
a Mahommedan burial-ground, but no village in 
sight. On our right we saw a curd camp; the 
tents were black like those of the Arabs. At 
four we reached a dirty place, situated at the 
beginning of a plain called Bulwudun ; this plain 
is in many parts swampy, and must be unhealthy 
in the summer. We proceeded at five, and at 
dark we came to a causeway. At ten we reached 
Isaklu, a considerable place, in the neighbourhood 
of rich gardens. 

October 5. We proceeded through a fertile 
plain, bounded by a range of hills close on our 
right. The plain is well watered, and in the 
distance to the left are swamps and lakes ; in five 
hours we arrived at Ak-Shehr, a large town 
surrounded by fertile gardens. To give some 



LETTER VI.] ASIA MINOR. 4<^3 

idea of the figure which a rich Turk makes in 
travelling in this country, we give a sketch of the 
family and attendants of a pashaw whom we met 
on the road this morning on his way to Constan- 
tinople. The procession commenced with several 
black slaves on horseback, followed by the harem 
of young and handsome women in a tackterwan ; 
to this succeeded another, with female slaves, 
some black, some white; and after them were 
several respectable looking Turks, on horseback ; 
to these succeeded the tackterwan of the pashaw, 
who was lolling on a sofa between cushions ; 
soldiers, and other attendants, closed his train. 
Two Tartars, bound to Adana, also passed us 
from the capital. From Ak-Shehr we proceeded 
through a poor country, and in six hours reached 
Ilgun, where we remained for the night. 

October 6. The road led us through a country 
of downs ; in seven hours we reached Khadun 
Khan ; here are some Roman ruins, basso-relievos, 
inscriptions, a lion, fragments of columns in the 
burial-ground, &c. ; the cross generally accom- 
panies the inscriptions. Beyond this place, to the 
right of the road, are two old altars with Greek 
inscriptions, and fragments of columns, used as 
mere modern grave-stones ; the Turks called 
them the five brothers, who they say were buried 
here, after having fallen in a civil war, at what 
period was not mentioned. In three hours from 



494 TRAVELS IN [LETTER VI. 

Khadun-Khan we reached Ladik, where we re- 
mained for the night. The Mahommedan burial- 
ground of this place contains many columns; 
friezes, and inscriptions of the lower empire. 
These Christian epitaphs are frequently used as 
head stones of the Turkish graves, the cross 
being left very perfect and unmutilated upon 
them, and the stones placed as at Christian graves, 
except that the head is towards Mekka. 

October 7. This morning we proceeded through 
plains, and travelled eight hours, arriving at noon at 
Konieh the capital of a pashalic ; it is at present 
a large town, environed like most of the cities of 
Turkey by rich gardens. The citadel is in the 
centre, encloses a great part of the town, and is 
surrounded by a wall and fosse. The walls are 
built out of the fragments of the ancient city, and 
contain basso-relievos, Greek inscriptions, altars, 
lion's heads, sphinxes, eagles, and differently formed 
large crosses. This was anciently lconium, the 
capital of Lycaonia, where St. Paul preached and 
made many converts to Christianity ( 101 ). The fosse, 
surrounding the walls without, is partly filled with 
rubbish, the rest is a shallow swamp with much 
verdure. We observed in it some beautiful spe- 
cimens of the flowering rush. The post-house 
where we lodged was outside the walls ; we did 
not, therefore, enter the citadel, as we were in- 



LETTER VI.] ASIA MINOR. 4£>J 

formed the pashaws permission was necessary ; 
and such was the cowardly conduct of our Tartar, 
MustafFa, that we could not persuade him even to 
ask whether there were any antiquities within the 
walls : he said, that we must not think of such 
things in Turkish towns. Unfortunately we had 
no other interpreter. From the little information 
we could receive, it appeared that there are no 
other remains in the citadel, than such fragments 
as we had seen on the outside walls ; from the 
number and variety of these, we may judge that 
Iconium was once a handsome city. The inhabi- 
tants of Konieh appeared a fanatical people ; they 
were very rude, and the Tartar was quite afraid of 
them. 

At four o'clock we procured post-horses, and 
proceeded until eleven at night through rich but 
uncultivated plains, not meeting with a single 
habitation till we reached the small village where 
we slept. 

October 8. At daylight we advanced through 
open plains, having some villages in sight and 
partial cultivation. At nine we stopped at a 
village to refresh the horses, there being no barley 
where we slept. Here we remained till noon, 
and then proceeded through fine plains without 
cultivation. At sun-set we arrived at Karabignar, 
situated near some volcanic mounds. We were 



496 TRAVELS IN [LETTER VI. 

informed that the principal one has a lake in the 
centre; that near to the town has two ruined 
Roman towers on it. The village consists of 
miserable houses, and the post house was unusually 
dirty. There is a handsome khan and mosque 
which was built by a sultan who made the pil- 
grimage to Mekka; both are now in a ruinous 
condition. 

October 10. This morning a Kiah-bey arrived and 
several Tartars, whom our attendant allowed to 
take all the best horses, so that we could not get 
off till ten o'clock, and then with some miserable 
animals which could scarcely move : one had died 
in the stable that morning. The manner in which 
these poor creatures are treated and worked by 
the Tartars and surugees (hostlers) is extremely 
cruel, but we had never observed any thing half 
so bad as at this post house. 

Shortly after we had left Karabignar, we passed 
close to an insulated circular mound of conical 
form, surrounded by a natural fosse, partly filled 
with salt water ; the ground is covered with ashes 
and scoriae to a considerable extent. From thence 
the plain became again more level. About two 
o'clock, we observed three surugees returning on 
the road, with several post horses which our Tartar 
wished to get in exchange for our bad ones. The 
surugees, who are accustomed to this, immediately 



LETTER VI.] ASIA MINOR. 497 

on observing us turned out of the road, and made 
a circuit to avoid us ; they were pursued in vain 
by Mustaffa on the best of our poor animals, which 
falling with him, he was obliged to return. 

At five we passed a neat village, entirely 
deserted by its inhabitants, in consequence of 
the oppression of the government. On seeing 
this recent instance of a people obliged to 
abandon their homes, we easily accounted 
for the general depopulation of the country, 
and the very great extent of rich plain which 
appears uncultivated. In this neighbourhood 
we observed many Turkomen's tents or huts; 
they are remarkably neat and clean, made in a 
circular form, with canes arranged in the shape of 
net-work ; there is a dome roof on the outside of 
the cane-work, which appears well adapted for 
admitting the air in hot weather. At night a 
curtain of canvas, or cloth, is let down. Some 
Curds were passing the night here ; further on we 
observed some camels left singly to die on the 
plain ; this, it appears, is a constant practice. If a 
camel falls sick, or is exhausted with age, so as to 
be unable to proceed with his burthen, it is left 
behind to take its chance. Some days afterwards 
our surugee left one of our post-horses in this 
manner, but he had the chance of finding the 
animal again on his return the next day, which 

K K 



498 TRAVELS IN [LETTER VI. 

could not be the case in the instance of a caravan 
of camels. At eight o'clock at night we arrived 
at Erkle or Ellegria, situated by the side of the 
plain in an enclosed country, with beautiful 
hedges, willows, fields, and gardens, which we 
passed through for an hour before we reached 
the town. Erkle appears to agree in situation 
with the ancient Tyana, which was in this part of 
the country, and is the only place sufficiently 
large to be called a town, between Konieh 
(Iconium) and Tersoos. We however did not 
remark any remains of antiquity in the neigh- 
bourhood. The situation is extremely rich and 
well watered ; the town is neater than usual, and 
has a good khan and mosque. The governour 
had put all the surugees in prison for having 
occasioned the death of a post-horse ; it was with 
difficulty our Tartar could get one released 
to proceed with us, and it was not till eleven 
o'clock on the tenth that we were clear of the 
town. 

We soon quitted the beautiful gardens of 
Erkle, and entered into a hilly country. We 
passed several rivulets of fine, clear water, and at 
two in the afternoon a village ; from hence we as- 
cended into a country of a different nature, and as 
naked as the plains ; the latter must stand at 
a considerable height above the level of the sea, 



LETTER VI.] ASIA MINOR. 499 

as, after a moderate ascent, we observed that the 
highest points of Mount Taurus on our right, 
with large patches of last year's snow, were but 
little above us. At sun-set we stopped at a small 
place called Olukooshlah, where, besides the post 
house, there are only a few huts and a khan for 
the hadj ; the country is bare. The next day we 
could not procure horses till ten o'clock ; an hour's 
journey brought us to some trees and gardens, 
shortly after which we came to a river, and conti- 
nued by the side of it till sun-set, except for 
about one hour which was occupied (about two 
o'clock) in passing over a projection of the 
mountain, presenting perpendicular cliffs to each 
side of the river, and rendering it impossible for 
the road to continue in the ravine. On the sides 
of the highest parts of these mountains are rich 
vineyards ; the natives bring the grapes down to the 
road in small baskets, to sell them to the passing 
traveller; the grapes are of an unusually rich 
flavour. When we joined the river's side again, 
we found the scenery gradually increase in 
beauty. The stream winds through a narrow 
valley between the mountains, whose sides are 
sometimes sloping and covered with fir-trees, and 
sometimes present perpendicular cliffs. We found 
many fragments of breccia, porphyry, serpentine, 
and black and white marble, the production of 



500 TRAVELS IN [LETTER VI. 

this range. At sun-set we arrived at a pictu- 
resque bridge of one bold arch thrown across 
the stream ; below it are the ruins of another, 
probably Roman; there is also a fountain of 
remarkably cold water. Here we deviated to the 
right from the course of the river ; the road 
became rugged, and the scenery less picturesque ; 
the summits of the hills were singularly pointed. 
At eleven o'clock we arrived at a post house 
called Takehur, situated in a wild place, sur- 
rounded by rugged hills and fir trees. 

October 12. We proceeded at eight o'clock, 
but had only advanced a few paces when we 
came to an open rupture with our Tartar ; we had 
often told him to be less liberal with our money in 
fees at the post houses. At Takehur he complied 
with the increasing demands of the post-master, 
though we had desired him to desist. When we 
rebuked him for it, he said he would return with 
the horses, and let us make a bargain for ourselves. 
As we knew that the post-master would exact 
more when he found that we ceased to have the 
protection of the Tartar, we were obliged to 
desire him to go forward. He, however, in a 
peremptory manner, ordered the surugee to 
return with our baggage, and we proceeded 
alone with our servant. Shortly, however, the 
post-master and surugee, the former mounted on 



LETTER VI.] ASIA MINOR. 501 

our own Tartar's horse, and armed with his 
pistols, appeared in our rear, uttering violent 
threats and menaces, and ordering us to stop. 
When they overtook us, we were obliged, after 
some disputing, to give up the horses ; but as we 
could not submit to be ordered back, and by a 
person in our pay, who was sent to obey us, we 
preferred walking on foot to returning to the 
post house, where we should have been exposed 
to the ridicule of every body. We continued to 
advance in spite of the solicitations of the post- 
master, who soon left us. After proceeding for 
about two hours, our Tartar came to his senses 
again, and rejoined us with our horses and baggage. 

About one hour's journey from Takehur, we 
observed that the road was cut through the rock 
with some labour, and by the side of the stream, 
near a small fall of water, there is a large square 
tablet bearing a Greek inscription, but we found 
it impossible to get near enough to copy it. The 
rock is cut away in other parts to form the road. 
The Turks call the place Kolinkboaz, or passage 
cut with a hammer, and there can be no doubt 
that it was one of the Tauri Pylas, or Cilicise 
Pylae of the ancients. About noon we came to a 
guard house and fountain, where the roads to 
Tersoos and Adana separate ; the former is the 
principal one, being the route to Aleppo, Syria, 



502 TRAVELS IN [LETTER VI. 

and Mekka ; the latter, which turns to the right, 
we followed. It soon became very rugged and 
crossed numerous ravines ; we had been the whole 
day upon a gradual slope ; at three o'clock we came 
upon a plain by a more rapid descent ; we had 
on our left a Turkish castle on an eminence. 
About four o'clock we passed a piece of a column 
of very handsome porphyry. 

Shortly after this the road turned more to the 
right, and we passed an old Roman castle on the 
left. About five we came upon the side of a 
ravine enclosing a very considerable river, perhaps 
the Cydnus, and descended into the great plain 
of Tersoos at dusk. At eight we stopped for the 
night at a very small village. From three to six, the 
country was covered with bushes, amongst which 
we observed the myrtle in great quantity and 
perfection, sometimes seven or eight feet high ; 
the arbutus, Vallonia oak, oleander, carob, caper 
plant, &c. &c. The plain of Tersoos is destitute 
of trees. 

October 13. At five we proceeded, and at 
seven reached the khan in Tersoos, having crossed 
the Cydnus over a considerable bridge. 

COAST OF KARAMANIA. 

Tersoos the ancient Tarsus, lies about a mile 
to the S. W. of the Cydnus ; it has no good 



LETTER VI.] ASIA MINOR. 503 

buildings, and is but ill supplied with the neces- 
saries of life. When the officers of the Fre^ 
derikstein visited Tersoos, they remarked the savage 
looks of the natives ; but we found them a civil, 
quiet, and well-disposed people. The difference 
may be attributed to the present Pashaw of 
Adana, to whose government Tersoos belongs, 
and who is a mild and just man. According to 
the report of Mons. Peretier, the French consul, he 
has taken such measures to punish theft, even in the 
smallest degree, that no such thing as a robbery is 
ever heard of in this district ; both Mons. Peretier 
and Mons. Guys his assistant, are dressed as Franks, 
m which costume they pass freely in the streets 
without the least annoyance from any body ; 
while Mons. Guys was shewing us about the town, 
we observed that the women, seeing by our com- 
panion that we w r ere Franks, generally contrived 
to let their veils slip aside whenever we passed 
any that were in the least good-looking ; on the 
contrary, when we were alone, and taken for 
Turks, they always covered their faces in a hasty 
manner, and appeared frightened. 

About a mile to the north of the town, the river^ 
previously of a considerable depth and breadth, 
falls over a bed of rocks about fifteen feet in 
height, whence it separates into several small 
channels, turning mills, and watering beautiful 



504 TRAVELS IN [LETTER VI. 

gardens. These streams afterwards unite in one, 
and so continue to the sea. We were told that 
the inhabitants do not drink of the water of the 
river, deeming it unhealthy. Many of the princi- 
pal houses are supplied from wells, but we saw 
many of the people filling their jars from the 
tributary streams. The antiquities of this place 
are but few ; fragments of friezes, columns, and 
Corinthian capitals are scattered about in various 
parts of the town. The governour lately made 
excavations for stones to build with, when many 
columns, &c. were found, shewing the abundance 
of antique remains which must still exist under 
ground. There are two gates, one at S. W. and 
the other at the N. E. part of the town ; they are 
simple arches, but were once decorated. To the 
N. W. of the town, traces of the ancient wall are 
distinguishable, and a citadel tolerably perfect to 
the north. We only saw one inscription in 
Greek, on a stone which forms part of the eleva- 
tion of the side pavement of the street, in going 
from the khan to the N. E. gate. It is not very 
perfect ; the letters are inverted, and it is in a 
situation which renders it difficult to copy. 

The commerce of Tersoos, at present, consists 
chiefly in cotton, of which the neighbouring 
plains afford an abundant supply. The khan was 
so full of merchandize and its proprietors, that 



LETTER VI.] ASIA MINOR. 505 

we could not obtain a room in it, but lodged on 
a stage under the piazzas. Goods from Egypt, 
&c. for Adana, are landed at the scala, and thence 
transported by camels. Monsieur Peretier's 
daughter was residing with her father at Ter- 
soos. They export great quantities of cotton. 
The Armenian church is reported to have been 
the dwelling house of the father of St. Paul, who 
was a native of Tarsus ; but there is as little 
probability of this being the real place of his 
abode, as there is of the church of Tiberius 
having been that of St. Peter. 

Strabo states " that the Cydnus ran through 
the heart of the city." As the Cydnus is now 
a good half hour's walk from the modern town, 
some idea may, from this circumstance, be formed 
of its original dimensions. We are told also 
that it was powerful, populous, and maintained 
the dignity of a metropolis. In Beaufort's work, 
it appears that the officers of the Frederickstein 
were informed that the ruins of a theatre, covered 
with bushes, lay near the river; this would in 
some measure corroborate the statement of 
Strabo ; but we inquired in various quarters about 
this theatre, without being able to obtain any infor- 
mation concerning it. We need hardly remark that 
the Cydnus is famous for the meeting of Marc 
Anthony and Cleopatra, and for having endangered 



506 TRAVELS IN [LETTER VI. 

the life of Alexander the Great, by his bathing 
in it; we bathed in it above the falls, and found 
the water unusually cold, but felt no ill effects 
from it. Though it was now the middle of 
October, the heat was so great that the ther- 
mometer, on the day we arrived, stood at ninety- 
two degrees in the shade, and during the week 
we were at Tersoos, it was never below eighty. 

October 20. We had some difficulty in coming 
to a decision about the continuance of our journey f 
whether it should be by sea or by land ; the 
exorbitant prices demanded for vessels, in con- 
sequence, perhaps, of this being the time of 
shipping the cotton, occasioned us to make the 
final arrangement for proceeding by land. We 
had six horses for forty-five piastres per day, it 
being considered as four days'journey to Selefketh. 

At noon we left Tersoos, taking with us 
a good supply of Bastourma (hung beef), 
prepared and cured by the Turkomen, who 
bring it to Tersoos for sale. Our other articles 
of provision were musty biscuits, and very indif- 
ferent brandy distilled from figs ; no cheese could 
be procured. We had been informed that the 
country through which we were to pass was thinly 
peopled, and very ill supplied with provisions. 
W T e proceeded by the road to Kazalu and the 
Scala; in about two hours and a half we turned 



LETTER VI.] ASIA MINOR. 507 

out of it to the right to a small miserable looking 
village. At three o'clock we reached an artificial 
mound, noticed in Captain Beaufort's work; we 
found pottery and other remains on its summit, 
but no distinct foundations. Here we had a fine 
view over the plain; the village of Kazalu with 
its gardens; the coffee-house at the Scala, and 
the sea with three or four vessels at anchor. We 
passed on to the westward through the plain, 
which was partly cultivated with cotton, and 
through the ruins of a town which appears to have 
been constructed of large stones, but there is only 
part of a building standing, which is of Turkish 
architecture, perhaps a mosque. A little further 
on, to our left, was another artificial mound, with 
remains of a fort on it, having square towers at 
the angles. A third height of the same kind 
was in sight still further to the westward. Before 
sun-set we stopped near a small mill turned by 
a pretty little stream, the ground was covered 
over with dwarf wood. The plain, between the 
sea on the one hand, and the foot of the moun- 
tains (hitherto well clothed on their sides with 
wood) on the other, was now considerably de- 
creased in breadth. 

October 21. At eight in the morning we ad- 
vanced on our journey, shortly after which we were 
environed by gardens of fig, orange, lemon trees, 



60S TRAVELS IN [LETTER VI. 

vines, &c. growing in the most luxuriant manner, 
the ground being here well watered with rivulets; 
in the midst of them was a village ; the people 
had been mostly sleeping in the open air, as we 
found their beds, mats, quilts, &c. under the trees. 
This cultivated tract, however, is very limited in 
its extent, as we almost immediately passed again 
into the same kind of dwarf woodland which we 
had quitted in the morning. 

We shortly passed another artificial hill, with 
ruins of large stones. From the position of these 
mounds, at such regular distances, it seems 
likely that they may have been thrown up for 
fortifications, and for the purpose of commanding 
a view of the plain and sea. 

About ten we crossed a considerable stream, 
and shortly after reached the ruins of Pompeio- 
polis. Time and the weather have given the 
columns a black and dismal appearance, and they 
are surrounded with dark looking bushes. Forty 
four columns, of a bad style, are standing, out o f 
about two hundred ; but what is that to Palmyra 
or Djerash where two hundred and forty still 
stand with their capitals and epistylia ? the re- 
mains of perhaps two thousand ! With the ex- 
ception of the colonnades and some sarcophagi 
which are scattered about without the walls, and 
are of large dimensions, we found little to interest 



LETTER VI.] ASIA MINOR. 509 

us. The theatre is in a most ruinous state, as 
is the ancient port, filled with an accumulation 
of earth. The remains of the town are so 
blocked up with bushes and briars, that we had 
more trouble in making our way through them 
than they deserved. At noon we again advanced ; 
the same sort of wood scenery continued, in which 
we saw the myrtle in great perfection, the fir, the 
arbutus, carob, bay-tree, turpentine, and the Vallo- 
nia oak. Some of the bushes were frequently 
entwined to their very summits by the wild vine : 
there were other shrubs whose names we were 
unacquainted with. The rivers are occasionally 
bordered by the oleander, but it was not in blossom. 
We crossed two streams, the last of which has a 
bridge of Turkish construction. 

About two o'clock P.M. we joined our conductor, 
who had remained behind at Tersoos to procure 
barley for the horses, and had arrived last night 
at the place where we found him. He had come 
a different road, and said that the man whom he 
had left with us had misled us. Shortly after 
we stopped at another large bridge over a consi- 
derable river. At five we stopped for the night 
on the banks of another, whose stream is so rapid, 
that two bridges, constructed over different parts 
of it, have been washed away ; it was, however, 
fordable in one place. The water of this river 



5 10 TRAVELS IN [LETTER VI. 

is of a very white colour, as if its course had been 
through a calcareous bed ; the plane tree as well 
as the carob are of a considerable size near the 
banks of the stream. A castle stands at the foot 
of the hills a-breast of Pompeiopolis ; we did not 
examine it. 

October 22. At seven o'clock we were on the 
road ; we shortly passed an artificial mound with 
ruins on it; the country was more open and in 
parts boggy. We passed several places where the 
natives tread out their corn, and near them were 
stages on which they sleep : these stages are 
raised on high poles for the sake of air in the 
hot summer nights. At nine we breakfasted near 
a river, which we crossed at ten, and then entered 
again into a country of dwarf wood : the road oc- 
casionally turned to the sea beach, for the purpose 
of crossing rivulets which are ford able only at 
the bars near their junction with the sea. The 
sea was, however, generally hidden from sight by 
high mounds of sand. At noon we quitted the 
plain country, and crossed a small rocky hill on the 
coast, which appears to have been inclosed with 
walls in ancient times, and was probably a boun- 
dary between Cilicia Campestris and Aspera. 
On its western side we came upon a sandy bay of 
the coast, at the discharge of a large river, which 
winds so extremely near its junction with the sea, 



LETTER VI.] ASIA MINOR. 5 1 I 

that its course bends almost back into parallel lines. 
On the right is a bridge over the river, and near is 
a village on a hill. The stones have been col- 
lected in heaps over this part of the country with 
great labour and perseverance, proving that in 
former times there must have been a considerable 
population, the foundation of small square 
towers, probably posts of communication, are 
visible here and there. Higher up, across a ro- 
mantic ravine, is a Roman aqueduct of pictu- 
resque appearance, its height is so great as to 
require a double tier of arches. Here we came 
upon a very stony coast; our conductor lost 
his way, having crossed the river at its mouth 
instead of the bridge ; a little deviation inland, 
however, brought us again into the right track, 
which was very rugged and stony. We found, 
hereabouts, troughs cut in the rocks, and holes 
through them to tie cattle to ; the land also was 
cleared as much as possible for pasturage, by 
heaping up the stones. 

At ten o'clock we reached some considerable 
ruins ; they stand upon an elevated spot, fronting 
the sea, and consist of several buildings within 
walls ; the first we examined, beginning to the 
north, appeared to have been a theatre, both from 
its semicircular shape, and its sloping appearance 
within ; we could observe several pieces of seats 



5 1 2 TRAVELS IN [LETTER VI. 

scattered about, and part of one of the vomi- 
tories. At its S. W. angle is a smaller building, 
with some circular foundation in front of it ; 
facing these buildings is the largest of the 
ruins, at the N. E. angle of which are the 
remains of a spiral stair-case. The whole edifice 
is of very considerable size, and has been orna- 
mented within with arched recesses on all sides. 
Whether it was a great Christian church or a 
palace is uncertain. To the east of it is a small 
temple ; its internal form is that of a cross ; it is 
surmounted with a dome, very neatly built, and 
has four arched recesses. On either side of these 
recesses are small chambers, which give the 
whole a square external form. At each angle 
of the recesses are Corinthian pilasters, and over 
each arch a cross is sculptured in relievo. In 
front of this building appeared a vast paved 
terrace, which proved on examination to be only 
the top of an immense reservoir of water, into 
which there is a descent by steps. Being dry, it 
appeared like a vast hall ; it is forty-five paces 
long, and twenty wide, and is divided into three 
long arched divisions by two rows of six piers 
each ; its depth appeared to be above forty feet. 
Near the S. W. angle of this tank is a small 
edifice which seems to have had a semicircular 
back and ends. Over the door-way is a Greek 



LETTER VI.] ASIA MINOR. 513 

inscription of five lines, not very perfect, but in 
such a state that a Greek scholar might perhaps 
be able to transcribe it. There are several small 
tanks amongst the ruins, and in one of the build- 
ings in the eastern part we saw an immense 
mill-stone. We know not the ancient name of 
this place; the natives call it Aukullah. The 
tank and great building agree in position with 
those mentioned in Captain Beaufort's book, 
as lying four miles east of Ayash, and two west 
of the river Latmus, which is certainly the river 
we crossed at noon. In Macbean's Dictionary 
we find that the river Latmus had a cognominal 
town, and as there are no ruins nearer to the 
river, these may perhaps be the ruins of Latmus. 

At two we proceeded over a stony road; the 
grand aqueduct from the Latmus still continues, 
across the ravines it is necessarily constructed on 
arches. We passed a burial place called Shede- 
lah, apparently of early Mahommedan date. At 
four we descended into a sandy bay, where, 
finding some wells of water, we stopped for the 
night. We conversed at these wells with some 
natives, who called the place Ayash. Here were 
a few uninhabited huts, and we were told of 
a village at half an hours' distance above. 
We were surrounded by ruins and Cyclopean 

L L 



514 TRAVELS IN [LETTER VI. 

walls of large stones, as well for the support of 
buildings as for terracing up the land for culture. 
We employed the remainder of the evening of 
the £2nd in examining the ruins which lay near 
us, intending to visit the remainder in succession, 
as we passed on to the westward the next day. 
The principal object was a tomb built of a square 
form, with an arched porch on one side, and a 
square door at the opposite side. There were 
composite pilasters at the angles, a lion's head 
frieze, and a pointed roof with pediments, 
within, the ceiling is arched; the chamber has 
four places for bodies below, and five in an 
elevated sort of stone bench above. There are 
two other tombs of this description in ruins 
near it, and close to the sea shore is a large 
Christian church. The canopy of the altar place 
has the remains of three saints painted on it; 
the centre one, by the difference of dress and shape, 
appears to have been intended for a female; 
perhaps they represented the trinity. The side 
walls are mostly fallen, but over the door in 
front, a cross is sculptured in relief, thus /^TN 
and some visitor has scratched near it, a\!2£x > 
flag on a staff, probably a banner imprinted by 
some crusader. Farther to the west are the ruins 
of another church, with part of a mosaic ceiling. 
Near this place the grand aqueduct passes on 



LETTER VI.] ASIA MINOR. 5 1 5 

i;wo different levels; beyond it is another tomb 
of the same description as that first mentioned. 
It has six elevated recesses for corpses, and one 
larger over the door. The chamber is six and a 
half paces by five ; the porch two and a half deep ; 
near it are many large sarcophagi. 

October 23. We started early on foot, the 
horses following; we soon ascended an ancient 
paved way, lined with many of those square 
tombs described yesterday, more or less perfect, 
as well as with many large sarcophagi. Some of 
these are very beautifully ornamented in relievo ; 
one in particular represented an eagle treading 
on a serpent, and holding a wreath on each side, 
supported at the other ends by cherubs, with a 
rose over each wreath. Another had an ox's head 
suspending wreaths of vines, pomegranates, 
grapes, &c. Some had tablets for inscriptions, and 
some were inscribed in large Greek characters 
covering the whole of one side. Besides the 
tombs and sarcophagi, we found some pieces of 
rich frieze as well as several altars; and there 
were edifices which appeared not to have been 
tombs but habitations, some of which looked 
modern. This paved road finally brought us to 
a sandy bay, and an isthmus which separated a 
rocky promontory from the main line of rugged 
coast. 



5 1 6 TRAVELS IN [LETTER VI. 

Here the great aquecluet again appears,* 
though much in ruins; and near it are the 
remains of a palace, the facade of which is one 
hundred paces across. It has had a colonnade in 
front, of sixteen pillars; the pedestals only re- 
main; a great many shafts of columns are made 
use of as modern fences on the isthmus. At the 
back of the palace, on the side of the hill, ap- 
pears to have stood a theatre, but it is more 
ruined even than that of Pompeiopolis. On the 
promontory are many ruined buildings ; one of 
these has three columns of a portico in front of 
it still standing; the shafts and capitals are of a 
single piece, and of good marble: they are of 
the Corinthian order. According to Captain 
Beaufort, these are the ruins of Eleusa or Se- 
baste; and the building on the promontory, 
supposing it to have been once an island, which 
is very possible, was perhaps the palace of Arche- 
laus. That on the main has, however, been by 
far the more considerable edifice. 

Passing on westward to the next eminence, we 
came to a large temple of fluted columns, 
standing in a very conspicuous situation. In 
ascending to it from the ruins of Eleusa, there 
is a place in the road, where one sloping, slippery 
stone of marble, constitutes the whole width, ^be- 
tween a perpendicular precipice of some height 



LETTER VI.] ASIA MINOR. 617 

on one side, and a tree on the other; we dis- 
mounted, and led our horses up it; but the poor 
baggage horse who could not be so easily lighten* 
ed of his burthen, fell over the precipice, for- 
tunately without injury, the baggage breaking 
his fall : this gave us time to examine, at leisure, 
a tomb standing near the sea shore, to the west- 
ward of the temple. It is square and has a 
pyramidal roof, but is only that of a Mahommedan 
saint; it has an oriental inscription over the door- 
way, and in the chamber within is the usual built 
grave with the cap of a dervis sculptured on it; 
the head is placed towards Mekka. It has,however, 
been built out of Roman ruins ; one of the stones 
had the letters B. A. inverted; Captain Beaufort, 
by his description of this tomb, does not seem to 
have been aware of the real character of it. 

From hence we ascended by the ancient paved 
way which brought us up to a castle : here we 
entered by an arched way into a street of ruined 
walls and buildings, passing on our left a magni- 
ficent palace. It has had three arched doors and 
many windows ; the interior is divided into various 
apartments, supported by columns, which have all 
fallen. Their capitals are in the form of an in- 
verted bell, and have four crosses enclosed in cir- 
cular wreaths sculptured on them; they appear 9 
therefore, to be of Christian times ; they have a 



5 1 8 TRAVELS IN [LETTER VI. 

heavy, ugly appearance. There are others orna- 
mented with a variety of decoration. At the 
east end the building finishes in the form of a 
half dome ; this would look like a church, were it 
not for windows in that part, and that the building 
has had upper stories supported on piers. From 
hence we descended through rough, ruined build- 
ings, and lines of innumerable large sarcophagi ; 
one in particular was beautifully decorated with 
processions of figures in basso-relievo, bringing of- 
ferings to an urn. A great many have crosses, and 
some have inscriptions upon them. It would ap- 
pear from the former circumstance, that they are 
generally of no earlier period than the lower 
empire. There are also plenty of sepulchral grottos 
cut in the rock, and many of these also bear in- 
scriptions. 

The valley into which we descended leads to 
the sea shore, where stands a fine old castle, with 
the remains of a pier projecting into the sea, and 
the ruins of a building at its extremity. On the 
hill, to the east of the valley, are the ruins of a 
considerable town ; and on the sides of that to the 
west, are the remains of houses cut out of the 
rock itself. On the upper part of these hills 
stands a sarcophagus, singularly placed on the 
top of a ruined building ; a large hole has been 
forced into the end of it. As it stands on a base 



LETTER VI.] ASIA MINOR. 519 

no greater than itself, no footing could be obtained 
for the purpose of forcing the lid off, and the hole 
must have been made by means of a ladder. 
Somewhere on this hill is a modern village ; the 
inhabitants whom we met called it Ichuran. 
Crossing over the foot of this western hill we 
came up on a sandy bay, in front of which stands 
another castle on an island. A low rocky point 
extends both from the island and the western side 
of the bay, and, perhaps, it was once connected 
with the main land. At the east side of the sandy 
beach, several springs of fresh water issue from the 
rocks close to the sea ; here we stopped to break- 
fast in sight of both the castles : these are the 
ruins of the ancient Corycus. It was the first 
spring of running water we had met with since 
we crossed the Latmus, between which and the 
Calycadnusthereisno river, and this is the reason 
why so many vast aqueducts and reservoirs were 
required for the supply of the different ancient 
cities. 

We conversed with several of the natives, and 
inquired particularly for the saffron cave of 
Strabo ; they told us we should come to it in our 
road, but there is no doubt they were deceiving 
us. We had observed, from the heights, towers 
at regular distances along the coast. At eleven 
o'clock we proceeded on our journey over a rough 



520 TRAVELS IN [LETTER VI. 

road ; the coast to the westward forms many bays 
and inlets. In the first of these we found a small 
vessel lying at anchor, which had brought iron, 
coffee, &c. to sell among the natives. The pro- 
montories between these bays are excessively 
rugged, and the road is so bad, being composed 
of hard, slippery marble stones, that we were 
generally dismounted : the poor baggage horse 
was scarcely able to proceed, and fell several times. 
The natives of Ichuran, to the number of seven, 
had followed us, either prompted by curiosity to 
see what we were about, in consequence of the 
enquiries we had put to them at Corycus, or for 
the worse purpose of robbing us if an opportunity 
offered. They were very wild-looking people, 
and our conductor did not like them. He gave 
the musket he was carrying to our Tartar, 
and desired him to be on the alert, and shoot 
the first who should assault us. They were, 
however, only armed with long knives, and we 
were well supplied with fire arms. According to 
Strabo and other ancient authors, the inhabitants 
of this country were noted for their piratical ex- 
cursions in ancient times ; they followed us during 
the chief part of the day. In one of the principal 
vallies through which we passed we had observed 
five caves ; we examined the two principal, in hopes 
of discovering the Corycian saffron cave, but were 



LETTER VI.] ASIA MINOR. 5'2 1 

disappointed. A continuation of very bad road 
brought us at last into an extensive plain, 
which terminates to the south in a long, low 
promontory, extending far into the sea. When 
we descended into the plain, we passed on our 
left the ruins of a town in a valley. It agrees 
with the situation of Pershendy by Beaufort, 
and we contented ourselves with his description 
of it, as none of the buildings, except three arches 
of an aqueduct, seemed to invite a closer exami- 
nation, or any loss of time. We continued in 
the plain to some distance , part of which is 
cultivated with cotton, and beyond it with water- 
melons, with a few temporary huts. We ob- 
served that the men in this country were employed 
in spinning wool, which is the occupation of the 
women in every other part of the Levant; it was 
spun in thick yarns. According to Macbean, 
quoting Varro, cloth was the manufacture of the 
country in former times. 

The dwellings continued till we came to a 
morass, where the road passes over the rocks close 
to the edge of the marsh, which extends in some 
places as far to the south as the eye can reach, 
filled with canes, rushes, Sec. Before we quitted the 
plain, we passed, at some distance to the left, the 
ruins of a large building ; part of its walls 
remain, and the frame of its door-way, constructed 



522 



TRAVELS IN [LETTER VI. 



of large stones. About five o'clock we stopped 
for the night near a miserable village, where, by 
the edge of the morass, there is a large building 
built out of the ancient ruins ; a foundation re- 
mains on the other side of the road. 

October 24. Proceeding at day-light, our 
road continued so bad that we were obliged to 
lead the horses, but having shortly arrived at 
the extremity of the morass, we were enabled 
again to enter into the plain, and to mount our 
horses. Passing on we came to a small mound 
which has the remains of ancient buildings upon 
it ; on the other side of the road were a few 
sarcophagi cut in the rock. We next came to an 
arm of the Ghiuk Sooyoo river, the ancient Caly- 
cadnus ; this river winds extremely, and is by far 
the most respectable stream we have seen in 
Asia. 

Three hours' journey from where we slept 
brought us to Selefkeh, one of the ancient Seleu- 
cias, which we entered, passing over the river by 
a bridge of six arches to a small khan. Selefkeh 
at present is a poor, miserable village, but in a 
fine situation ; the castle stands on the top of a 
round hill, at the foot of which is the village, 
and the ruins of the ancient town extending to a 
considerable distance. After breakfast we went 
to inspect them. We first came to an old brick 



LETTER VI.] ASIA MINOR. 59,3 

ruin of large size, formerly lined with plaster ; 
near this, on the S. E. side of the castle hill, has 
been a theatre, now only distinguishable by 
the shape of the earth, and by two of its 
vomitories, at present converted into habita- 
tions. On the slope where the seats once ex- 
isted, tobacco is now cultivated. In the plain 
to the eastward are two large buildings; the 
first shews nothing but its walls ; the most 
distant has been a large Christian church con- 
structed of solid masonry. The semicircular 
eastern end is perfect, and one fluted Corinthian 
column in the front is standing ; it may have 
been formed out of a more ancient temple. 
There are many other indescribable ruins, and to 
the west of the theatre, quarries and excavated 
tombs. We afterwards ascended a hill south of 
the town, having been attracted to it by large 
ruins, which we had observed before we reached 
Selefkeh. The road we followed has formerly 
been paved, and towards the summit cut through 
the cliff to some depth. We found ruins covering 
a considerable extent of ground; the principal 
buildings have been churches, of which the 
farthest had the east end in tolerable preservation. 
The windows were adorned with handsome white 
marble columns, of the Corinthian order, one of 
which remains perfect. There are a few coarse 
sarcophagi, and no less than five, large tanks, four 



o£4 TRAVELS IN' [LETTER Vr. 

of which we examined ; the first was forty paces 
long, by twenty-six wide ; the second, fifty, by 
twenty-six ; the third, thirty, by sixteen ; the 
roofs of these have fallen in, but some of the 
columns which supported the third, remain in 
their places; the fourth was only nineteen, by 
sixteen ; the roof is vaulted and supported upon 
three rows of four columns each. From this hill 
is a commanding view over the plain, the sea, and 
the winding Calycadnus, which suddenly breaks 
upon the view from between two cliffs to the 
north of Selefkeh. 

Our conductor was taken ill at this place with 
spasms in his stomach ; the beginning of a dis- 
order with which all our party were more or 
less afflicted before we reached Chelindreh. 

October 25. At sun rise we continued our 
course to the westward, having with difficulty 
prevailed on our conductor to proceed further. 
No animals could be procured in Selefkeh; nor had 
we the means of providing ourselves with a vessel 
to undertake the journey by sea. The road led 
over the hill and through the ruins which we had 
visited the preceding day, and thence into the 
plain which we followed for about two hours, and 
then arrived at some ruins near the sea shore, 
where has been a small bridge leading to them 
over a marsh. 

The principal object has the appearance of a 



LETTER VI.] ASIA MINOR. 525 

small fortress. We had previously crossed a dry 
torrent, near which were the remains of an 
aqueduct. We continued about an hour at this 
place breakfasting and examining the ruins, and 
then proceeded. . Quitting the plain country, and 
passing along a rocky coast, we came first to an 
extensive necropolis of sarcophagi cut in the rock. 
In about an hour more, we came to the ruins of 
another ancient village, and still farther on to a 
bay of the coast, having a large Turkish fortress 
standing on its western promontory ; to the 
south projects a curved isthmus and peninsula ; 
in the cove which it forms lay a polacca brig, 
which had come from Egypt with salt, and was 
taking in wood to return. We conversed with 
some of the crew. From hence we passed into 
another bay sheltered by an island : here two 
other vessels were taking in wood. At the head 
of this bay are ruins of a town, and of buildings 
on the island. Both these anchorages become 
nearly land-locked by the curved projection of the 
point Lissan El Kahpheh. We now ascended a 
high bluff, very stony and overgrown with firs. 
We descended on the opposite side amongst 
romantic cliffs and ravines into a valley. At half- 
past two we stopped for the night at a small 
source of fresh water, the only one we had seen 
since we started. Here an open stage is placed 
for the accommodation of travellers, there being 



526 TRAVELS IN [LETTER VI. 

no inhabitants in the neighbourhood. The valley 
is inclosed by two high cliffs ; on the top of that 
to the right is a ruined building ; there are other 
hills to the left, which intercept the view of the 
sea. We went on foot to examine the building, 
leaving our Tartar, servant, and conductor with 
the horses. With much difficulty we proceeded to 
the ruin; the ascent was very steep, and in one 
instance we were stopped by a perpendicular 
precipice; after searching some time we found a 
fir tree placed against the rock, by which we 
climed up ; as we advanced we piled up heaps of 
stones to serve as marks for our return. The 
building appeared to be a Turkish castle for the 
mortar was comparatively fresh. Here we had 
a commanding view of the sea, together with the 
island of Cyprus ; seeing some tents and people on a 
neighbouring hill, we thought it prudent to retire 
quickly, being unarmed, and the natives of these 
parts having no good character. We reached our 
party at sun-set in a state of violent perspiration : 
we supped on rice, which we had brought from 
Selef keh, where we had not been able to procure 
a fowl. We passed a night of drizzling rain, 
wind, thunder, and lightning, in the open air ; we 
had all a violent, feverish heat and thirst, which 
obliged us to be constantly applying to the 
fountain to drink ; and this probably contributed 
to increase a disorder in the stomach, with which 



LETTER VI.] ASIA MINOR. 527 

we were all more or less afflicted, in consequence, 
as we supposed, of the badness of the waters 
coupled with our indifferent diet. In the morn- 
ing the rain increased, but the weather became 
serene towards eight o'clock. 

We had quitted our night's lodgings at seven. 
The valley opens at the further end on a deep 
bay of the sea-coast, from whence, in about two 
hours, we ascended a mountainous and ugly 
country, interspersed with fir-trees. The sea 
was generally intercepted from our view ; as we 
descended, we came to a few scattered huts, and 
some little cultivated land, with cattle. We 
stopped at one of these huts about three in the 
afternoon ; the owner of the hut we saw nothing 
of, but we got admittance into a very neat little 
room, which, together with another containing a 
store of straw, and a shed for cattle, formed the 
whole building. In the immediate neighbour- 
hood of these huts are small portions of land, 
very neatly cultivated, and threshing grounds, 
the whole terraced up with much care and pains, 
though now, abandoned for the winter season, 
like the cottages in the mountains of S witzerland. 
Our servant Luigi's illness increased here consi- 
derably, and he was in a high fever. 

October 27- We advanced at eight, constantly 
ascending and descending in a rough mountainous 
country ; we had much difficulty in finding the 



528 TRAVELS IN [LETTER VI. 

track, for road there was none. Towards three 
we came down upon a large plain, beyond which, 
at half-past four, we arrived at Chelindreh. 
This place, which now only consists of a custom- 
house, and three or four houses where the 
Tartars, from Constantinople, usually embark for 
Cyprus, was anciently called Celenderis, some of 
the ruins of which remain, principally tombs, 
and one square cenotaph, consisting of an open 
arch on each side, with Corinthian pilasters, and 
pyramidal roof. A bath is also distinguishable. 

Two vessels were lying in its little port, which 
has formerly been protected by a large castle on 
the point, now much in ruins ; there is a tank 
within it. There is no running fresh water within 
some distance of Chelindreh ; but there is the 
ruin of an aqueduct, which formerly conveyed it 
to the town. 

October 28. We sent for horses to the nearest 
post-house, there being none at Chelindreh ; it 
was three hours' distant. When they arrived, we 
had some difficulty in settling a bargain as far as 
Anamour, but having completed it for six piastres 
each horse, per day, we were thinking of pro- 
ceedings when the disorder which had attacked all 
our party (fever and dysentery) increased among 
us in so alarming a degree, that we were obliged 
to abandon all thoughts of finishing the tour for 
the present 3 and resolved to hasten to Cyprus for 



LETTER VI.J ASIA MINOR. 529 

medical aid, as we were totally unprovided with 
medicine, or any of those comforts so requisite in 
such an emergency. 

Our guide, in order to obtain relief from his 
burning fever, had caused himself to be blooded 
with the point of a nail sharpened for the pur- 
pose. We were all much exhausted by lying on 
the bare ground, and by want of nourishment, 
for we found it impossible to procure even a fowl. 
We had some rice and biscuit, but our appetite 
was entirely gone. This unfortunate termination 
of our journey must be attributed, besides the pri- 
vation of wholesome food, for we had lately eaten 
scarcely any thing but rotten biscuit and dried 
beef, to lying out in damp nights on the ground, 
with very insufficient covering, and to the un- 
wholesome waters which discharge themselves 
into the sea along the coast we traversed, and 
which vary in their properties, according to the 
soils from whence they flow ; but there was no 
choice; and though we were sometimes apprised of 
the baneful qualities of particular streams, never- 
theless we, were obliged to avail ourselves of them. 
On some occasions we slept on the margin of stag- 
nant swamps, where it was next to impossible to 
escape inhaling disorder from the mal aria of such 
situations, It is a coast, therefore, where a tra-* 

M M 



5S0 TRAVELS IN ASIA MINOR. [LETTER VI. 

veller must be fortunate indeed if he escapes 
without suffering material injury to his health. 

On arriving at Cyprus, the rest of the party 
soon recovered, but I was confined to my bed for 
fifteen days before I was pronounced out of 
danger. I could never have recovered had it not 
been for my friend and travelling companion, who 
never quitted my bed-side, though the physician 
on several occasions refused even to enter my room 
until it had been sprinkled with vinegar ; and our 
servants would not sleep in the same apartment : 
therefore, had it not been for my friend, I should 
have been without attendance. While detained 
here, we were very sorry to learn that Mr. Bankes 
had a severe attack of fever at Yaffa. 

Towards the middle of December, as it was 
too late to renew our attempts in Karamania^ 
and we were much enfeebled by illness, we em- 
barked for Marseilles in a French brig, of one 
hundred and twenty tons, and after a passage of 
seventy-six days, during constant gales of wind, 
we reached that place, where we performed a 
quarantine of twenty days, and then proceeded 
to Montpellier to recruit our health. 



SOME ACCOUNT 

OF 

CUCHUK A L I, 

IN 

A LETTER 

FROM 

John Barker, Esq. to his Excellency the Earl of Elgin, dated 
Aleppo, the 20th. November, 1SOO, 



MY LORD, 

Mr. Manesty has lately informed me that 
he had solicited your excellency's attention to 
the intimation I made to the honourable com- 
pany's agent at Constantinople, of the expe- 
diency of the public Tartars being permitted 
by the Porte to pass through the territory of 
Payass on their return to Aleppo from the 
capital, instead of being forced to take an indirect 
route, whereby the transmission of the honourable 
company's correspondence is not only conside- 
rably retarded, but their packets are likewise 
exposed to be damaged, and even lost, by the 



532 



SOME ACCOUNT OF 



messenger being compelled to traverse the Gulf 
of Iskenderoon, in very indifferent barks of the 
country. 

Your excellency having recently entered into 
correspondence with the Pashaw of Payass, I 
deem it incumbent on me to lay before you a 
detailed account of the extraordinary character of 
your new correspondent, and my proceedings to 
cultivate his good-will for the benefit of the 
public service. 

While yet at Constantinople, I was admo- 
nished to beware, in my passage hither, of passing 
through the territory of Cuchuk Ali, Governour 
of Payass, who had then in his prisons the Dutch 
Consul of Aleppo, whom he arrested as he was 
returning from the capital, although possessed of 
imperial firmans for the exercise of his ofiice at 
Aleppo, and at a period that the Porte was in 
peace with the Dutch republic. 

The proceedings of Cuchuk Ali on this occa- 
sion will serve to elucidate his character, and 
which will be set in a very strong light by the 
consideration, that there had for many years 
previous to the detention of the person in 
question, subsisted between him and the pashaw 
habits of the most cordial friendship, and recipro- 
cation of mutual gifts, according to oriental 
customs. 



CUCHUK ALL 



633 



On the arrival of the Dutch consul at Payass, 
Cuchuk Ali gave orders that he should be put 
into chains, and stript of every thing besides the 
apparel he wore ; but the pashaw avoided, with 
great circumspection, any occasion of coming 
to an interview with his prisoner; for it is a 
peculiarity worthy of remark, that this tyrant, 
whenever he orders a bad action to be committed, 
retires from the view of it, and carefully shuts 
himself up in a solitary apartment. 

The sum fixed for the consul's ransom was 
twenty-five thousand piasters, but not being able 
to furnish more than seven thousand five 
hundred, he underwent, during the space of eight 
months, every species of ill treatment. All 
means were tried to force him to embrace the 
Mahommedan religion, and to extort from him 
the money required for his release. To which 
ends they would at one time confine him in a 
damp dungeon, without light, and often without 
sustenance for four and twenty hours ; at another 
they would threaten him with immediate exe- 
cution, and once even, to shew that their menaces 
were not wholly nugatory, two innocent wretches 
who had been arrested under similar circum- 
stances with himself, were impaled before him 
for having delayed, as he was informed, in pro- 
ducing the money for their ransom. At length, 



534 



SOME ACCOUNT OF 



fortunately for this poor man, the arrival at 
Payass of a caravan from Smyrna, proceeding to 
Aleppo, furnished Cuchuk Ali an occasion of 
extorting his ransom from the merchants, by 
obliging them to advance the money on the bond 
of his prisoner, and then delivered him into their 
hands as a slave which he had sold them. 

In the year Mr. Fowles, master of an 

English vessel in the harbour of Iskenderoon, 
went with four of his men to water at a place in 
the territory of Payass, called Jonas's Pillar^ 
where they were seized by Cuchuk Ali and 
thrown into prison. 

A great sum having been required for their 
release, before the necessary arrangements could 
be made for its payment, the master was driven 
by despair to put a period to his existence by 
precipitating himself from a high tower in which 
they were confined, and all the rest soon after 
perished, except a boy of twelve years old, named 
Charles Edwards, who was then sent as a 
present by Cuchuk Ali to the afore-mentioned 
Dutch consul, his late prisoner. I am ignorant 
of what steps Were taken by the mission at 
Constantinople to obtain from the Porte the 
necessary satisfaction for this act of violence, but 
it is certain that none was ever given by its 
savage perpetrator. 



CUCHUK ALL 



535 



Two years after this a French ship from 
Marseilles, richly laden with merchandise for 
Aleppo* was, by the captain's ignorance of the 
locality of the Bay of Iskenderoon, carried under 
the walls of Payass, where the captain with part 
of his crew, under the persuasion of being 
anchored at Alexandretta, landed in search of the 
consulary establishment, and were conducted to 
the governour, who received them with every 
mark of hospitality. But while he was enter- 
taining them with a sumptuous repast, his men 
were occupied in taking possession of the vessel, 
which he immediately unloaded, and sunk, and 
sent the crew by land to the French consul at 
Alexandretta. Remonstrances were made by all 
the European agents at Aleppo, and in a parti- 
cular manner by the pashaw's then intimate 
friend the Dutch consul, to whom Cuchuk Ali 
replied, ( f My dear friend, you know very well 
H that consistently with the friendship subsisting 
" between us, property, and life itself are indif- 
" ferent matters ; nay, I swear, by God, that for 
" your sake, I would sacrifice my only son 
u Dadah ; but I entreat you not to drive me to 
" the extremity of denying you that which it is 
" impossible for me to grant." 

My dearest friend, place yourself in circum- 
" stances like mine. I am in disgrace with my 



556 



SOME ACCOUNT OF 



" sultan without having given just cause for hig 
" displeasure. I am threatened to be attacked 
H from the four quarters of the earth. I am with- 
" out money ; I am without means ; and the ever 
* watchful providence of the Almighty sends me a 
" vessel laden with merchandise. Would you lay 
" hold of it or not ? I know very well the Franks 
""will claim restitution of this property from the 
" Sublime Porte, and that is precisely what I 
"want, because an opportunity will then be af- 
M forded for soliciting my pardon." 

On the receipt of this letter, all hope of re- 
covering any thing by amicable overtures being 
vanished, the French consul made application to 
his superior at Constantinople and obtained several 
imperial commands on the subject. Three cara- 
vellas were likewise sent to Pay ass to enforce 
Cuchuk Ali's obedience. He retired to his moun- 
tains; the caravellas fired a few guns against an 
empty hut and a ruined fortress, and in a very 
short time having consumed their stock of pro- 
visions, they gladly accepted such as were ten- 
dered them by Cuchuk Ali, who soon obtained, 
through the customary means of liberal presents 
of French watches, and of fine French cloths, 
the good will of the commanders of the expe- 
dition sent against him. Such was the satisfac- 
faction at the rebel's munificence, that they not 



CUCHUK ALL 



557 



only contracted with him engagements of great 
private friendship, but even awarded him their 
intercession in his favour with the Porte ; and the 
dignity of an additional tail was conferred upon 
him on that occasion, with a fresh order, pro 
forma, for the restitution of the property. In 
compliance with which order, Cuchuk Ali wrote 
to the French consul at Aleppo, that he was 
ready to obey the commands of the Sultan, but, 
that the cargo of the ship in question having 
been converted into use, he offered in compensa- 
tion, as an equivalent, to make over to the propri- 
etors of the goods, sundry plantations belonging 
to him in the territory of Payass. 

The Porte has on various other occasions sent 
pashaws with great forces to subdue this rebel, 
but whether owing to the natural barriers that 
are formed by the high craggy mountains, covered 
with thick woods, wherein he takes refuge, or to 
the species of accommodation above described, the 
Porte has never been able to subdue him, during 
forty years' existence, in open contempt of its 
authority. This man, in the early part of his life, 
was a simple bandit inhabiting the mountains of 
Payass, at which time that place was a populous 
and flourishing town of trade. 

Cuchuk Ali laid the foundation of his present 
power by making nocturnal excursions from the 



538 



SOME ACCOUNT OF 



mountains to rob the gardens in the vicinity of 
Payass. Some gardeners, in order to be exempted 
from these depredations, began by stipulating to 
pay a trifling annual tribute; others entered into 
similar engagements, and from a rotolo of coffee, 
or a few rotolos of rice, the whole town became 
at length compelled to furnish a stated contribu- 
tion. Cuchuk Ali become head of a band of 
forty or fifty robbers, now aspired to render 
himself master of the place. He began by way- 
laying the chiefs of the principal families, and in 
the course of a few years he succeeded in exter- 
minating every individual of such as possessed 
any power at Payass, or in its vicinity. One person 
only of those unfortunate families whose adhe- 
rents he could neither subdue by open force, nor 
corrupt by bribery, for some time contended with 
him for supreme authority, till at length Cuchuk 
Ali, having lulled his suspicion of treachery by 
giving him his daughter in marriage, murdered 
him with his own hand, and has often been 
heard to warn his own children of a male infant 
proceeding from that marriage, counselling them 
to crush the crocodile in the egg, lest he should 
one day revenge on them the blood of his father. 
Cuchuk Ali with a very inconsiderable number of 
dependants, which do not, I am well informed, 
exceed two hundred men, has by a system of the 



CUCHUK ALU 



5S9 



most barbarous cruelty for many years past, im- 
pressed terror on the minds of the people of this 
neighbourhood, and given much disquietude to the 
Porte, between whom and the rebel there exists 
a reciprocal desire to be on a footing of friend-* 
ship, founded on mutual advantages, which ever 
prevents their continuing long on terms of osten- 
sive hostility. Cuchuk Ali's territorial government 
may naturally be supposed such as to afford him 
but very slender means of drawing wealth from 
the miserable wretches inhabiting his dominions; 
his revenues proceed therefore in a great measure 
from the casual passage of travellers through his 
territory, whom he lays under such kind of con- 
tribution as he thinks they would rather bear, 
than be obliged, by not coming to him, to 
take a very incommodious route. Sometimes 
his rapacity and natural brutal inclinations lead 
him to exceed the bounds he means to prescribe 
to his impositions, when the Porte declares its 
displeasure, forbidding travellers to pass through 
Pay ass, and thus, as soon as the rebel finds his 
coffers in need of fresh supplies, the Porte 
succeeds in forcing him to supplicate for his par- 
don, which is seldom long withheld, on account of 
the Porte's necessity of procuring a safe passage 
for the grand annual caravan of pilgrims from 
Constantinople to Mekka, who are obliged either 



£40 



SOME ACCOUNT OF 



to pass by Pay ass, or make a very disagreeable 
and expensive journey through the mountains of 
Armenia. 

When this caravan comes into Cuchuk Ali's 
territory, it yields him a very considerable revenue, 
for he taxes every individual according to his own 
caprice, but, however, always upon the system 
above described. On its approach to Payass, 
Cuchuk Ali sends some of his household to com- 
pliment on his arrival the chief of the caravan, a 
personage of great distinction, who dismisses the 
rebel's emissaries with presents for him. Horses 
are presented which Cuchuk Ali sends back, with 
a hint that they would be preferred when com- 
pletely accoutred in all the usual gold and silver 
trappings. They are then again presented to the 
rebel in that form. In short, much time passes 
in negociating and stipulating the precise tri- 
bute required; and when at length the measure 
of his rapacity is filled up, the caravan is per- 
mitted to proceed on its journey. 

In order the better to dispose the pilgrims for 
his extortion, Cuchuk Ali is always careful to 
prepare for them, as a beacon of his power and his 
cruelty, the spectacle of two bodies impaled, trans- 
fixed on the gate of Payass. It happened, a few 
years ago, that his prisons were empty when the 
caravan of Mekka was approaching Payass ; the 



CUCHUK ALL 



541 



rebel was somewhat puzzled at so unusual an 
obstacle, and he imparted his embarrassments to 
a convivial companion. " The caravan/' says he, 
" will be here to-morrow, and we have not yet 
prepared the customary execution. Look ye, 
pick me out two from among my servants." His 
friend expostulated, and while he was endeavour- 
ing to avert his design, by assuring him that every 
thing would proceed in due order without the 
formality in question, Cuchuk Ali, still ruminating 
and stroking his beard, exclaimed, " I have it, go 
fetch Yacoob the Christian, he has been for four 
months in bed sick of a fever, he can never re- 
cover :" the poor wretch was instantly dragged 
from his bed, impaled, hung up, in terror em, and 
served to impress the pilgrims with infinitely 
greater horror and alarm than if the bodies of ten 
malefactors had been exposed to their view. 

When it is considered that the forces of the 
wretch, who is the subject of this narrative, do not 
exceed two hundred armed men, it becomes a 
matter of surprise, even to those who are well ac- 
quainted with the impotency of this government, 
that such a bandit should have so long braved the 
controul of the Porte. 

He is perfectly conscious of his own weakness, 
and the little arts he puts in practice to conceal 
it are characteristic and curious. Whenever any 



542 



SOME ACCOUNT OF 



personage of distinction comes into his territory, 
which is inaccessible but through immense woods ; 
in order to deceive the new comer in an estimation 
of his forces, he disposes his men in the thickets, 
so as to pass in review like soldiers in theatrical 
scenery. Thus the reports of an ocular witness 
become fallacious, and the power of Cuchuk Ali 
is extolled and exaggerated all over the Turkish 
dominions. 

He has fabricated a cordon of buildings along the 
eminences of his mountains, which appears, from 
far, like towers, and are even reported to be as 
many castles. They are in reality nothing else 
than little rude edifices, composed of two thirds of 
mud and one third of chalk, which a night's heavy 
rain frequently damages. Cuchuk Ali is, however, 
prompt to repair them, and they continue to in- 
spire with dread, the traveller who is compelled 
to approach them. 

Such is the character of the being whom I have 
found means to propitiate, whereby, during 
eighteen months that I have been honoured with 
the management of the Honourable East-India 
Company's concern at Aleppo, I have procured 
the secure transit through Pay ass of upwards of 
thirty Tartars, charged with conveying their cor- 
respondence from this place to Constantinople; and 
though I cannot flatter myself with the hopes of 



OUCHUK ALL 



543 



turning my possession of the rebel's good-will to 
so great an advantage as that of engaging him to 
restore the groups of eighty thousand piasters 
which he has seized belonging to British depen- 
dents, I esteem it a very great happiness, to have 
accelerated the transmission of every packet com- 
mitted to my care, at least three days ; as it is 
evident the Tartars' jour nies would necessarily have 
been prolonged that time, and often, in the want 
of boats wherewith to traverse the Gulf of Isken- 
deroon, much longer, if I had not cultivated the 
friendship of the Governour of Payass, in order to 
secure their free passage through his territory. 
I have the honour to be, 

&c. &c. &c. &c. 
(Signed) JOHN BARKER. 



NOTES 

AND 

SCRIPTURAL REFERENCES. 



Note Page 

1. 14. — Some remove the land-marks. — Job, xxiv. 2. 

2. 31.— Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall 

his blood be shed. — Genesis, ix. 6. 

3. 33. — If we go, what shall we bring the man? there 

is not a present; what have we? — 1 Samuel, 
ix. 7- 

4. 60. — The revenger of blood himself shall slay the 

murderer. — Numbers, xxxv. 19. Ye shall 

take no satisfaction for the life of a mur- 
derer. — 31. 

5. 75.— They cried out and cast off their clothes, and 

threw dust into the air. — Acts, xxii. 23. 

G. 172. — And the people took their dough before it was 
leavened, their kneading troughs being bound 
up in their clothes upon their shoulders. — 
Exodus, xii. 34. 

7. 172. — And, behold, there was a cake baken on the 
coals. — 1 Kings, xix. 6. 

Sr 173.-— Shall inhabit the parched places in the wilder- 
ness, in a salt land, and not inhabited. — 
Jeremiah, xvii. 6. 

9. 174.— They that are delivered from the noise of archers 
in the places of drawing water. — Judges, v. 11. 

10. 178. — She being desolate shall sit on the ground. — 

Isaiah, iii. 26. 

11. 179. — And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at 

midnight and took the doors of the gate of the 
city, and the two posts, and went away with 
them, bar and all. — Judges, xvi. 3. 

N N 



546 NOTES. 

Note Page 

12. 1S4. — For ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which 
indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within 
full of dead men's bones. — Matthew, xxiii. 27. 

IS. 216. — As the cold of snow in the time of harvest. 

Proverbs, xxv. 13. 

14 217- — They are wet with the showers in the mountains, 
and embrace the rock for want of a shelter. — 
Job, xxiv. S. * 

15. 241. — In the name of our God we will set up our 

banners. — Psalm xx. 5. 

16. 241.— In that day shall there be upon the bells of the 

horses, Holiness unto the Lord. — Zechariah, 
xiv. 20. 

17- 243. — Concerning Damascus. Hamah is confounded. — 

Jeremiah, xlix. 23. 
IS. 257. — The wrath of a king is as messengers of death. — 

Proverbs, xvi. 14. 

19. 25S. — And ram-skins dyed red. — Exodus, xxv. 5. 

20. 260. — For the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, 

as when one doth hunt a partridge in the moun- 
tains. — 1 Samuel, xxvi. 20. 

21. 262. — Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. — 

1 Peter, v. 14. And poured it upon his 

head and kissed him.— 1 Samuel, x. 1. 

22. 263. — Butter and honey shall he eat Isaiah, vii. 15. 

23. 263. — He worshipped the Lord, bowing himself to the 

earth. — Genesis, xxiv. 53. 

24. 264. When I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle. 

— Psalm, xxviii. 2. 

25. 266. — Also Vashti, the queen, made a feast for the 

women in the royal house. — Esther, i. 9. 

26. 266. — Thirty milch camels with their colts.— Genesis, 

xxxii. 15. 

27. 274. — And put them in the camels' furniture. — Genesis, 

xxxi. 34, 



NOTES. 



547 



Note Page 

SS. ^75. — Neither let me give flattering titles unto man. 

For I know not to give flattering titles. — Job 7 
xxxii. 21, 22. 

29. 275. — If I and my cattle drink of thy water, then I 

will pay thee for it. — Numbers, xx. 19. 

30. 275. — Who can stand before his cold. — Psalm, cxlvii. 

17. 

31. 275. — Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pot- 

tage. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and 
pottage of lentiles. — Genesis, xxv. 30, 34. 

32. 276. — The boar out of the wood doth waste it. — Psalm, 

lxxx. 13. 

33. 278. — Except they wash they eat not.— Mark, vii. 4. 

34. 278. — And she took flour, and kneaded it, and made 

cakes in his sight, and did bake the cakes. — 
2 Samuel, xiii. 8. 

35. 279. — The wilderness yieldeth food for them and for 

their children. — Job, xxiv. 5. 

36. 281. — They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow 

before him Psalm, lxxii. 9. 

37. 282.— And pursued them to Hobah, which is on the 

left hand of Damascus. — Genesis> xiv. 15. 

38. 291.— A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.— Mat- 

thew, v. 14. 

39. 295.— And he said unto them, cast the net on the right 

side of the ship.— They cast therefore, and 
now they were not able to draw it for the 
multitude of fishes.— John, xxi. 6. 

40. 296. — And they arrived at the country of the Gada- 

renes, which is over against Galilee. — Luke, 
viii. 26. 

41. 297- — Neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. 

— Luke* viii. 27- 

42. 301.— And they fastened his body to the wall of 

Bethshan. — 1 Samuel, xxxi. 10. 



548 



NOTES. 



Note i : age 

43. 303. For we have treasures iu the field, of wheat, and 

of barley, and of oil, and of honey.— Jeremiah, 

xli. 8. The seed is rotten under their clods, 

the garners are laid desolate, the barns are 
broken down, for the corn is withered. — Joel, 
i. 17. 

44. 305. — And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in 

the morning, and bread and flesh in the even- 
ing, and he drank of the brook.— 1 Kings, 
xvii. 6. 

45. 306. — Adjeloun is mentioned in Joshua, x. 12. 

Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou, 
Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. It ap- 
pears, however, on referring to 2 Chronicles, 
xi. 10. that Aijalon was in the land of Judah, 
which was on the other side of the Jordan. 

46. 306.— The five kings are found hid in a cave at 

Makkedah. — Joshua, x. 17. 

47. 306. — A high hill as the hill of Bashan. — Psalm, lxviii. 

15. 

48. 320. — Also he built towers in the desert. — 2 Chronicles, 

xx?i. 10. 

49. 321. — And the stone wall thereof was broken down. — 

Proverbs, xxiv. 31. 

50. 326.— And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of 

Jordan, in the place where the feet of the 
priests which bare the ark of the covenant 
stood ; and they are there unto this day, — 
Joshua, iv. 9. 

51. 327.— They are wet with the showers in the moun- 

tains, and embrace the rock for want of a 
shelter.— Job, xxiv. 8. 

52. 341.— And they shall go into the holes of the rocks 

and into the caves of the earth.— Isaiah, ii. 
19. 



NOTES. 



54,9 



Note Page 

53. 341.— He built even Bethlehem, and Etam, andTekoa. 

— 2 Chronicles, xi. 6. 

54. 342. — A vineyard in a very fruitful hill; and he built a 

tower in the midst of it. — Isaiah, v. 1,2. 

55. 342. — Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan 

in Egypt. — Numbers, xiii. 22. 

56. 342. — And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba ; the same is 

Hebron. — Genesis, xxiii. 2. There they buried 
Isaac and Rebecca his wife, and there I buried 
Leah. — Genesis, xlix. 31. 

57. 374. — And the stone wall thereof was broken down. 

— Proverbs, xxiv. 31. 

58. 380. — Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. — 

1 Peter, v. 14. 

59. 380 — Now those that sealed were, &c, &c. Hallohesh. 

Pileha, Shobek, &c. — Nehemiah, x. 24. 
GO. 384. — Neither will we drink of the water of the wells. 
—Numbers, xx. 17. 

61. 385. — If a man vow a vow, or swear an oath, he shall 

not break his word. — Numbers, xxx. 2. 

62. 393. — And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto 

the King of Edom, thus saith thy brother Israel, 
behold we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost 
of thy border : 

Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy coun- 
try : we will not pass through the fields, or 
through the vineyards, neither will we drink 
of the water of the wells : we will go by the 
king's high way, we will not turn to the right 
hand nor to the left, until we have passed thy 
borders. 

And Edom said unto him, thou shalt not 
pass by me, lest I come out against thee with 
the sword. 

And the children of Israel said unto him, 
we will go by the high way: and if I and my 



550 NOTES. 
Note Page 

cattle drink of thy water, then I will pay for it', 
I will only, without doing any thing else, go 
through on my feet. 

And he said, thou shalt not go through. And 
Edom came out against him with much people, 
and with a strong hand. 

Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage 
through his border : wherefore Israel turned 
away from him. 

And the children of Israel, even the whole 
congregation, journeyed from Kadesh, and 
came unto mount 11 or. — Numbers, xx, 14 — 

m. 

63. 393. — And Aaron died there, in the top of the mount. 

— Numbers, xx. 28. 

64. 393. — The women came out of all the cities of Israel, 

singing and dancing. — 1 Samuel, xviii. 6. 

65. 394. — For by wise counsels thou shall make thy wars. 

Proverbs, xxiv. 6. 

66. 394. — Forsook the counsel of the old men I Kings, 

xii. 8. 

67. 395. — And behold Saul lay sleeping within the trench, 

and his spear stuck in the ground. — 1 Samuel, 
xxvi. 7- 

68. 397. — If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, &c. 

— Obadiahy 5. 

69. 397- — Ye are spies. — Genesis, xlii. 9. 

70. 402. — And he built towers in the desert. — 2 Chronicles, 

xxvi. 10. 

71. 415. — Flocks shall lie down in the midst of her; all the 

beasts of the nations, both the cormorant and 
the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels 
thereof. — Zephaniahj ii. 14. 

72. 423. — O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock. 

— Jeremiah, xlix. 16. 



NOTES* 531 

Note Page 

73. 426.— He that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, 

and that graveth an habitation for himself in a 
rock. — Isaiah, xxii. 16. 

74. 433. — Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them 

up unto mount Hor. And Moses stripped 
Aaron of his garments and put them upon 
Eleazar his son ; and Aaron died there on the 

top of the mount. — Numbers, xx. 25, 28. — 

And the children of Israel took their journey 
from Beeroth of the children of Jaakan, to 
Mosera; there Aaron died, and there he was 
buried. — Deuteronomy, x. 6. 

But after the army (that had so long 
mourned the dead sister of the general) were 
thus purified, he led them through the desert, 
into Arabia; and arriving in a place (which 
the Arabians account for their metropolitan 
city, in times past called Arce, and at this 
present, Petra) which is environed with a high 
mountain, Aaron ascended the said moun- 
tain, and Moses shewed him the place where 
he should yield up his soul unto God; and 
in the sight of all the army standing on a high 
place, he put off his stoale, and gave it to his 
son Eleazer, to whom, by eldership, the suc- 
cession appertained; and thus, in the sight of 
the people, he died in that very year wherein 
he lost his sister, in the one hundred and thirty- 
third year of his age, in the month of August. 
Vide Josephus' Antiquities, book iv. ch. 4. 

75. 436. — What shall be the trespass offering. — 1 Samuel,viA. 

76. 437- — Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place 

whereon thou standest is holy. — Joshua, v. 15. 

77. 439. — Edom shall be a desolation.-— Jeremiah, xlix. 17. 

— See Ezekiel, xxxv. and xxxvi. 

78. 443.— "She had strong rods for the sceptres of them that 

bare rule. — Ezekiel, xix. 11. 



552 



NOTES. 



Note Page 

79. 453. — The whole land thereof is brimstone and salt,&c. 

— Deuteronomy, xxix. 23. 

80. 456. — They violently take away flocks, and feed thereof. 

They take the widow's ox for a pledge. — Job, 
xxiv. 2, 3. 

81. 458. — Drink waters out of thine own cistern. — Pro- 

verbs, v. 15. 

82. 463. — Thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaster, 

them with plaster ; and thou shalt write upon 
them all the words of this law. — Deuteronomy, 
xxvii. 2, 3. 

82. 463. — And the border went up to the stone of Bohan. 

— Joshua, xv. 6. 

83. 470. — And Saul went out to meet him that he might 

salute him. — 1 Samuel, xiii. 10. 

84. 470. — An old man cometh up ; and he is covered with 

a mantle. — 1 Samuel, xxviii. 14. 

85. 470. — I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, 

that is cunning in playing. — 1 Samuel, xvi. 18. 

86. 471. — Medeba is noticed in Numbers, xxi. 30. 

And we have laid them waste unto Nophah, 

which reacheth unto Medeba. And in Isaiah, 

xv. 2. Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over 
Medeba. 

87. 472. — He reached her parched corn, and she did eat. 

—Ruth, ii. 14. 

88. 472. — And behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one 

stalk ! and in the seven plenteous years the 
earth brought forth by handfuls. — Genesis, xli. 
5, 47. 

S9. 473. — Let us slay him and cast him into some pit. 
— Genesis, xxxvii. 20. 

90. 475. — Took his two wives, &c. and passed over the 

ford Jabbok. — Genesis, xxxii. 22. Nor 

unto any place of the river Jabbok. — Deutero- 
nomy, ii. 37. Ar-d the border even unto the 

river Jabbok. — Deuteronomy, iii. 16.- Even 



NOTES. 



553 



Note Page 

unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of 
the children of Ammon. — Joshua, xii. 2. 

92. 4S1. — And he hasted to dress it. — Genesis, xviii.7* 

93. 481. — Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk. 

— Exodus, xxiii. 19. xxxiv. 26. — Deuteronomy, 
xiv. 21. 

94. 4S1. — And of the fat thereof. — Genesis, iv. 4. Jose- 

sphus says, " it was milk." Antiquities, b. 

i. c. ii. sect. 1. And as we have it here used, 

the milk certainly contained the fat and sub- 
stance of the meat. 

95. 481. — She brought forth butter in a lordly dish. 

— Judges, v. 25. 

96. 482. — He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish 

— Matthew, xxvi. 23. 

97. 483. — And thou dost dwell among scorpions. 

— Ezekiel, ii. 6. 

98. 483. — And all the women whose heart stirred them up 

in wisdom spun goats hair — Exodus, xxxv. 
26. 

99. 4S4 — And he made curtains of goats hair. — Exodus, 

xxxvi. 14. 

100. 485. — Concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock. 

— Leviticus, xxvii. 32. 

101. 494. — And it came to pass in Iconium that they went 

both together into the synagague of the Jews, 
and so spake that a great multitutude both of 
the Jews and also of the Greeks believed. — 
Acts, xiv. 1. 



INDEX 



TO THE PLACES VISITED. 



THE ANCIENT NAMES ARE IN ITALICS. 



A. 

Aaron's Tomb, 432, 435. 
Abou Soliman's tomb, 378. 
Abraham, house of, 342. 
Achzib, Zib. 196. 
Acre, Accho, 195, 497. 
Acoujah, 373. 
Adjeloun, 307- 
Aggi Dengis, lake, 230. 
Ain el Frangee, 446. 
Ak Shehr, 492. 
Alaks, plain, 231. 
Al-baid (well), 348. 
Aleppo, 231. 
Amatha, ruins, 297. 
Amman, Habbath Amnion, 474. 
Anamour, Cape, 528. 
Antinoe, 163. 
Antioch, Antakia, 229. 
Aphroditopolis, site, 135. 
Appolinoplis magna, 127. 
Arimathea, Ramla, 184. 
Armada, 94. 

Arrag-el-Emir, Hir can's p. 473. 
Arethusia, 254. 
Arsouf, Appollonias, 189. 
Arti-musshut, tomb, 370. 
Ascanius, lake, 490. 
Asdoud, Azotus, 179. 
Asphaltes, lake, 459. 
Assuan, Syene, 118. 
Athan, village, 322. 



Athlite, village, 190. 
Aukullah, 513. 
Ay ash, 513. 



B. 

Baalbec, 214. 

Backwater, Dead Sea, 353, 450. 
Bait Forage, 328. 
Batroun, Botrys, 206. 
Bayga, valley of, 320. 
Bayruth, Berytus, 202. 
Beit Kerm, ruins, 458. 
Bekaa Mathooalis, 212. 
Belus, river, 192. 
Bendick, 489. 
Beshiri village, 109. 
Bethlehem, 339. 
Bilejik, 491. 
Blanco, Cape, 197. 
Boulack, port of Cairo, 162. 
Bourkee, ruins, 230. 
Bulwudun, Polylotom, 492. 
Bsaida, Ipseyra, 376. 
Bysan, Scythopolis, 301. 



C. 

Cafringee, 306. 
Caiffa, Hepha, 192. 
Cairo, 151, 158v 



556 

Calirrhoe, valley of, 467. 
Callah-el-Hammam, 299. 
Callah-el-Rubbat, 306. 
Calycadnus, river, 522. 
Candele, village, 224. 
Carmel, mount, 193. 
Carnack, 137. 
Gastel Pelegrino, 192. 
Castle Jeba, 201. 
Cataract, second, 20. 
Cedars of Lebanon, 209. 
Cesar ea, 189. 
Chelindreh, Celenderis, 524. 
Cilicia Campestris, boundary, 5 10. 
Contra Latopolis, site, 135. 
Corycus, ruins, 519. 
Cydnus, 502. 
Cynopolis, site, 155. 
Cyprus,, 526, 530. 



D. 

Daboude, temple, 105. 
Damascus, 282. 
Daphne, site of, 225. 
Dead Sea, tour, 331. 
Dekki, temple, 98. 
Derry, 11, 92. 
Dettrass, ruins, 372. 
Dgellgood, site, 370. 
Dgebail, Sheikh, 286. 
Dher, tombs, 466. 
Dibdeba, village, 386. 
Diban, Dibon, 462. 
Djebal, Attarous, 464. 
Djebal, village, 375. 
Djerash, ruins, 308, 317, 475. 
Djibel Selsilis, mountains, 126. 



E. 

Ebsambal, small temple, 28. 

large temple, 37. 

Eden, village, 20g. 

Edfoo, Appolinopolis magna, 127- 

Elabahn, volcanic mass, 375. 

El Ahsa or Hussan,river,355,357. 

El Arish, 173. 

El Assel, river, 359. 

El Bered, or Coldriver, 219. 

El Cab, Eleethias, 130. 

El Darrah or Dara, river, 85g. 

Elephantina, island, 123. 

El Gaig, ruins, 378. 

El Hagre, ruins, 376. 

El Ibrim, river, Adonis, 205. 

El Kasab, river, I89. 

El Kelb, river, 203. 

El Leban, river, 203. 

El Mulk, river, 220. 

El Petras, river, I89. 

Elpha, 22. 

El Rubin, river, 182. 

El Sazib, river, 203. 

El Zowar, 354. 

Erbed village, 299. 

Erkle, orEllegria, Heraclea, 498. 

Erment, Hermontis, 13,5. 

Ersek, 489. 

Escol, torrent, 179. 

Esdier village, 177. 

Esdredon, plain, 478. 

Eski, Shehr, Dorylamm, 49 1 . 

Esneh, Latopolis, 134. 

Eugen, village, 307. 

F. 

Farras, village, 16, 18. 



INDEX. 



557 



G. 

Gaobin village, 48Q. 
Garbe Dendonr, temple, 100. 
Garbe Girshe, temple, 99. 
Garbe Merie, 101. 
Gaza, 178, 

Gebail, convent, 205. 
Gennesaret, lake, 293. 
Gerasa or Pella, 476. 
Gerizim, Mount, 329. 
Gesir Adid, 230. 
Gharundel, Arindela, 376. 
Ghiuk Sooyor, R.CaZycadnus,522. 
Ghiviza, Lylissa, 489. 
Ghor, 483. 

Ghorneys, village, 449. 
Gilhad Gilhood, village, 322, 
Gonrna tombs, 137. 
Granite quarries, 119, 

H. 

Hallawye, 305. 
Hamah, Epiphaneia, 243. 
Hamahta or Mote, site, 37 1 . 
Haneunis, village, 1/5 
Hariatoon, ruins, 340. 
Hebron, Kiriath Aria, 311, 342. 
Herrnopolis, 153. 
Herodium, ruins, 464. 
Heshban or Heshlon, 47 '1. 
Hindaw, 104. 
Hircan, palace of, 473. 
Horns, Emesa, 254, 2?6. 
Howeeh, site, 370. 
Hot Springs, Yarmack, 298. 
Houarti, 153. 
Houle, Lake, 290. 



I. 

[brim, Primnis, 13. 
Ilgum, Philomelium, 493. 
Ipseyra, Bsaida, 443. 
Ichuran, 51 9. 
Isalu, 492. 

Isnik, or Tchinisli, Nkcea, 490. 



J. 

Jabok, river, 319, 475. 
Jacob's bridge, 286. 
Jaffa, Joppa, 184. 
Jamnia, Yabne, 182. 
Jebilee, Galala, 224. 
Jellaheen's camp, 342. 
Jericho, camp near, 330. 
Jerusalem, 329. 
Jonas's Pillar, 534. 
Jordan, river, 289, 325, 32g, 



K. 

Kaffer Baiter, ruins, 328. 
Kalapsche, temple, 5, 101. 
Kali-Phee, 391. 
Karabignar, 4g5. 
Karamania, coast, 502. 
Kasmia, river, 198. 
Katty, village, 312, 315. 
Kavdas or Abouli, river, 208. 
Kazalu, road to, 506. 
Kerek, 36l, 444, 456. 
Khadun Khan, 493. 
Khanzyre, 444. 
Khosrn Khan, 491. 
Kiriath Aria, Hebron, 311. 



558 



INDEX. 



Kishon, river, 194. 
Kisdervent, 490. 
Kolinkboaz, 501. 
Konieh, Iconium, 494, 
KoroskofF, 9. 
Koum Ombo, Ombus, 123. 



L 

Labyrinth, 340. 
Ladik, Laodiceia Combusta, 494. 
Latacliia or Latakia, Laodicea, 
222. 

Latmus, river, 513. 
Latopolu, Esneh, 134. 
Lebanon, 210. 
Lefke, 491. 

Lehaddineh Hinde, 391. 
Lissan el Kahpeh, 525. 
Locusts, 443. 
Loudd, Lydda, 184. 
Lourdee, 224. 
Lybian Mountains, 146. 
Luxor, 137, 147, I4p. 



M. 

Mackad, site, 370. 
Madeba, Medaba, 47 1. 
Madfuni, 140. 
Madjdala, village, 291. 
Mahannah's camp, 260. 
Mahanna, ruins, 370. 
Majdil, Magdala, 299. 
Majudal, village, 179- 
Makkedah, cave, 306. 
Mansouria, island, 126. 
Marah, 242. 



Markab, village, 222. 
Marrowhich, site, 370. 
Marseilles, 530. 
Mataria, Hel'iopolis, 167. 
Mayn, ruins, 464. 
Medinet Aboo, 147. 
Memnonium, temples at, 147. 
Mockatem grottos, 131. 
Mons Regalis, 380. 
Mount Carmel, 193. 
Mount Cassius, 224. 
Mount Hor, 433. 
Mount Lebanon, 209. 
Mount Nebo, 464. 
Montpellier, 530. 
Mummy pits, 142. 
Musshut tomb, 371. 



N. 

Nablous, Sichem, 328. 
Nebi Aaroon, 388. 
Nebi Hood, village, 313. 
Nicomedia, 489. 



O. 

Offidena, temple, 97. 
Olukooslilah, 499. 
Ombos, Koum Ombo, 123. 
Om Keis, Gadara, 297. 
Oom-i-Rasass, 471. 
Orontes, river, 225. 

P. 

Panias, Ccesarea PMlippi, 289. 



INDEX. 



559 



Palmyra, ruins, Tedmor, 267. 
Payass, 531. 

Pella or Gerasa, 317, 476. 
Pelusium, 171. 
Petra, 405. 
Phiala, lake, 287. 
Philae, 1, 106. 

Pompeiopolis, ruins, 508, 510. 
Pyramids, 156, 406. 



R. 

Rabba, Rabbath Moab, 457. 
Radimore, 164. 
Rajib, Ragaba, 478. 
Ramla, Arimathea, 184. 
Rastan, village, 254. 
Reashy, 313. 
Rhoda, island, 162. 
Ruad, Aradus, island, 220. 



S. 

Sabour, temple, 95. 
Safot, 291. 
Saida, Sidon, lqg. 
Sammack, 385. 
Sasa, village, 285. 
Scorpion, rock, 300. 
Scutari, 487. 
Selahieh, village, 169. 
Selefkeh, Selencia, 522. 
Semmack, 296. 
Sermein, 240. 
Sepulchres of Petra, 428. 
Shedelah, 513. 
Shekune, khan, 343. 
Sheikh Daoud, tomb, 304. 



Sheikh Ham, 45$. 

Sheikh Jaffa, tomb, 371. 

Shobek, 378, 380. 

Shuhut, 491. 

Sidi Gazi, 491. 

Siout, 153. 

Sipheer, village, 342. 

Solomon's pool, 340. 

Souf, village, 30 7. 

St. Simon, ruins, 231. 

Suadeah, Seleucia, 227. 

Surugees (hostlers), 4g8. 

Syene, Assuan, 9. 

Szalt, Amathus or Macharus, 32 1 . 



T. 

Tabaria, Tiberias, 295. 
Tabathat Fahkil, 304. 
Tafyle, village, 444. 
Takehur, post-house, 500. 
Tarichea, walls of, 300. 
Taurus, mount, 499. 
Tchinisli or Isnik, Niccea, 4QQ. 
Tedmor, village, Palmyra, 267. 
Teffa, temples, 103. 
Tehene, village, 154. 
Tekoa, ruins, 341. 
Temple of the Sun, Djerash, 
317. 

Temple of the Sun,Palmyra,269. 
Temseida, castle, 206. 
Tentyra, temple, 151. 
Terra Santa, Damascus, 282. 
Tersoos, Tarsus, 502. 
Thebes, 137, 149. 
Tiberias, 300. 
Tomb of Jacob, 2g4. 
Tortosa, walls of, 220. 



560 

Tortura, Dora, 190. 
Touman, khan, 240. 
Tourneen, 231. 
Tripoli, 206. 
Tsour, Tyre, IQ7. 
Tyana, 498. 
Tyrian's ladder, 197. 

V. 



INDEX. 

Wady Wale, 46 2. 

Y. 

Yabne, Jamnia, 182, 
Yarmack, hot springs, 298. 
Yead, village, 214. 



Vermin, 485. 



W. 



Wady el Ahsa, 373, 444. 

Modjeb, Anion, 460. 

— — Mousa, 402. 
Zeit, 3 '2 7. 



Zeit, Wady, 327. 

Zerka, river, Jablok, 319, 475. 

Zerka, river, 190. 

Zerka Mayn, torrent, 466. 

Zib Achzib, 196. 

Zoar, site of, 448. 



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